Russellings of the Spirit

despair

  • TODAY’S FORECAST

    Sometimes it all just gets to be a little much, doesn’t it? I continue to wait in vain for the scales of justice to tip even minutely back toward balance. I ask; the rich CAN’T just continue getting richer, can… Continue reading

  • More candles… more seeds

    I’d like to ask you to pause just for a moment and think about your home.  Not just the house you live in. But everything else that causes you to call it HOME.  What do you like about it? What… Continue reading

  • Knowing Who Wins

    [NECESSARY DISCLAIMER: Lots of sports stuff to follow. Yes, a nifty little Christ-following tie-in at the end, but sports stuff first.] Have I mentioned in this space that I am a huge fan of the National Football League and its… Continue reading

  • Defining Success

    What does success look like to you? If you are a parent, success might look like seeing your children grow into contented, confident adults. If you are a musician, success might look like performing a piece with passion and without… Continue reading

  • Easter, God’s Will, and the War in Ukraine

    Since the beginning of time, war has been hell.  War costs millions of innocent lives. In the blink of an eye, war destroys people, communities, vegetation, and futures. Some of us have seen war firsthand. Most of us have just… Continue reading

  • Standing Guard

    I may have mentioned this before, but here in the northern Colorado part of the U.S., we are dealing with some pretty nasty forest fires at the moment. No one is quite sure how they started, but they have been… Continue reading

  • Pro and Con

    “Well, it sure beats the alternative!” I honestly can’t count the number of times I have uttered this phrase whenever someone complains to me about the tribulations of aging. Here of late though, I’ve had cause to wonder: Is it though?… Continue reading

  • Take Hope

    “But hope that is seen is no hope at all. Who hopes for what they already have?” Romans 8:24, NRSV. Hope is a precious commodity these days. On some days, it can be harder to find than that ever-elusive toilet paper. We squint and look at the… Continue reading

  • Something from Nothing, Part 2

    (In yesterday’s installment, I recounted one of my most abysmal performances as a pastoral counselor. Troy, a congregant, had come to see me with an incredible mountain of problems including job loss, cancer, his wife’s infidelity, and parenting challenges, all… Continue reading

  • Something from Nothing, Part 1

    Over the course of my 20 years in professional ministry, I like to think I have offered some measure of comfort to people who have come to me seeking counsel in the midst of deep, personal crises. But I know… Continue reading