The View from the West Mesa

Last week's Pepperdine Lectures trip was another enjoyable and rewarding trip. Classes were great (Cope, Shelley, Anderson, Beam, Walling, et al.), and the key notes were pretty good too. Weather was a bit of a downer the first part of the week - overcast and rather cold for southern California, but the last couple or three days were as expected - sunny and warm with just a slight breeze to cool it down a bit. Ate way too much at our evening group meals. Fresh fish is great, but too much of it will add a few pounds and inches - especially when paired with creamy crab and shrimp sauces. By the end of the week I had reverted to my now regular habit of hitting some morning classes, buying some books, eating lunch on the university plaza, and talking to folks. Hit a couple afternoon classes, but generally the conversation, sun, and flowing Coke and tea were enough to keep me on the plaza until dinner time. Bought just a few books, mostly from some of the speakers - autographed of cours...

January is routinely resolution month with many of us making the same resolutions we made last January and gave up on in February. Let's face it, if we were going to exercise more, do we really need to make that decision in January? And if we do, what does that say about our earnestness in making that decision? What kinds of resolutions have you made in the past? Have they had to do with you - eating better, exercising more, reading better books? Most resolutions I suspect are usually me-centered. After all, there's little to no accountability with those. What's wrong with a banana split for breakfast every now and then anyway? While there's nothing wrong with resolutions that deal more with me, how much better would be resolutions that improve the way we interact with people. Resolutions that have to do with learning to be, and trying to be better parents, better spouses, better Christians seem to be higher resolutions because they are focused on becoming the kinds of ...

Congratulations on achieving a great milestone! This is but one of many to come over the next few decades, leading to the one that will usher you into the presence of our God. It is that milestone on which I urge you to keep your focus. All the others between now and then will simply be steps in that direction which, if you choose wisely, will keep the track of your life directed squarely toward that final marker. God created Man in His image which means that somewhere in all of us – in you – is the image of our God. That image, that imprint, that spiritual DNA if you will, is the real picture of who you are called – who you were made – to be. In reality, it is you. Many people see their life’s journey as an outward trek, one that reveals more of themselves to themselves as they experience more. It is true that we grow as we experience life, but our journey to ourselves is really a round trip journey – we end up where we started and where we are meant to be, discovering in ourselves a ...