• Bethlehem Revisited,  gifts,giving,thankful,,  Life on the Farm,  Prayer Walk,  The Gift of Community,  Uncategorized

    “Wokeness” on Kitten Creek

    The weather in Kansas can be fickle. Countless times this year, we have watched the threatening clouds bear down on Kitten Creek and then watch in amazement as the storm circles left or to the right and totally misses us. Sooner or later, though, we get the storms. So we prepare. Presently, we are watching the threatening thunderstorms forming in our larger, cultural surroundings. We are not naive. Inevitable cultural pressure is coming (and presently seeping) into the area that surrounds our community. We are preparing. One of the storms forming around us is a “woke” culture, filled with judgment for anyone who is not “woke.” What does a “woke…

  • Life Goes On,  The Gift of Animals,  The Gift of Community,  The Gift of Vision,  Uncategorized

    Re-Collecting in the Pasture

    Today I needed to walk the old familiar trail in the pasture again.The thoughts and feelings swirling in my mind and heart were and are disconcerting. Thirty-eight years ago, this pasture was new to me. My body was younger. I was filled with anticipation of what could be, Things in the world were . . . just different. Yes, we were on a down-swing in our culture, but there was hope of changing it. Yesterday we were young, God was with us, we could carry out the vision under God’s direction. We were a community with one heart. Today, we are not so young. Our  community living here is of…

  • Uncategorized,  Who Am I?

    Who Am I? #2

    “You need to write a song!” These words coming in Messenger from a nephew startled me. “Who? I don’t write songs!” I wrote back. “Yes,” he replied. “You.” He proceeded to give me some of his reasons and suggestions. Both he and his young son have been involved in bands and gigs. They were looking for words that my grand-nephew could put to music for his next gig at The Hard Rock Cafe in their city. Gazing at Steve’s Facebook picture I tried to see the little boy I once knew. Yes, behind the long gray hair and the white beard I still could see a semblance of that little…

  • Spiritual Disciplines,  The Gift of Community

    Authenticity: From “Me” to “Who?”

      Children don’t know anything but transparency and authenticity. Their freedom to be themselves is quite compelling.  It is only later that they begin to adapt to the social pressures in this fallen world. I remember in my wise four-year-old mind becoming aware that the thoughts coming in the form of ideas or conversation with others were actually coming from me.  I remember the awe I would feel when I would whisper to myself, “I am Me.”  Allowing the thought to reach into my very soul, I was overwhelmed with a sense of my own identity, and I marveled at this reality. But when a child is slowly growing through…

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