Hundred Mark

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                  One Hundred Mark

I never realized that when I started writing the Mangy Moose blog that it would reach one hundred posts. I started blogging as a way to get people off my back that wanted me to write a book. I have several friends who have gone through the difficult and time consuming process of bringing a book to publication. Although I admire those who write books, I have no desire to do so; thus my blog.

At first I purposed to share stories from my life that readers might find interesting if not entertaining. Having shared the story of my life journey from growing up in a large family to studying for the priesthood to serving in various church denominations, I have written some blogs that are my personal views of church life as a pastor and as an observer of life in general.

My greatest and most loyal readers are my family: my siblings and my children. They regularly comment pro and con to what I have to share. Friends from the past as well as those who have earned the right to speak into my life keep me an honest writer of blogs. I appreciate all who read the Monday morning Mangy Moose.

The most amazing thing about blogs is that once they are published on the Internet they go worldwide. I have an app that logs the number of daily hits I get. It also tells me where hits come from. I am shocked that people from the United Kingdom, Australia, Finland, Sweden, France, Morocco, Spain, Indonesia, Canada, Germany, Poland, and God knows where read my blog. I hope I am not starting a worldwide conspiracy!

I am reminded of a Bible passage that talks about writing things down. Although the context of these verses pertains to an Old Testament prophesy, I paraphrase it because I am reminded to write it not just think about it. “Write what you see, write it out in big box letters so that it can be read on the run. This vision message is a witness pointing to what's coming. It aches for the coming; it can hardly wait! And it doesn't lie. If it seems slow in coming, wait. It's on the way. It will come at the right time.”

People Who Need People

People Who Need People

It was 1964 when Barbara Streisand sang the hit song People Who Need People as part of the Broadway play Funny Girl. The first verse goes like this: “People who need people are the luckiest people in the world. We're children needing other children, and yet letting a grown-up pride hide all the need inside; acting more like children than children.”

As I listened to the news last week, I heard Barbara make a public statement that if Donald Trump was elected President, she would move to Australia or Canada. Several days later I heard TV personality Sean Hannity comment that he would personally buy Barbara and her liberal friends a one way ticket out of the country. I am not sure who is more childish.

American politics has taken a turn for the worse this election year. Not only have the candidates themselves taken the lower road of personal slurs and character assassinations but the public media has jumped into the mud fight as well. Our politics has always had a perchance for the unseemly. You would think that with all the national and international issues we are facing the level of common discourse would be of a higher quality.

The reason I was reminded of Barbara’s song is that there is truth in those words that people who need people are the luckiest people. Those things that separate people are the very issues that become the foundation for prejudice, hatred, and civil discord. I saw this quote on Facebook: “The worst distance between two people is misunderstanding.” Therein lies the truth.

It is my conviction that when people who don't get their way and pick up their marbles and go home are acting like spoiled children who have no need for other people. How sad it is when adults insist on acting like children.

Up North

Up North

It's a long drive from Bozeman to Minneapolis. It can be done in a day but it takes stamina to make the 930 mile, 14 hour drive with four adults and three grandchildren. We made the trip in late August to attend two family reunions and a four-day vacation at a cabin up north.

You have to be a Minnesota native to understand “up north.”  It is not simply a direction on a compass. It is a mindset that says when Friday comes, it's time to head north to one of those 10,000 lakes and kick back for a weekend of fun. Lakeshores lined with cabins and docks sticking their long fingers into tranquil waters; the call of the loons beckoning one to leave the cares of the world behind and enjoy life.

This was the fourth time in less than a year that our family got together. The cabin we rented was more than adequate for eleven people. Nestled in a forest of Norway Pines, we savored access to a sand beach, a fishing dock, two kayaks, a pontoon boat and lots of beach toys. What more could you ask for up north.

August in Minnesota is known for its heat, humidity and mosquitos. We had nice everything. Warm days and cool nights kept us happy campers.

Small resort towns offer an ambiance you can't find in the big cities. We bought coffee, sweet rolls and candy at the gas station; cold cuts and cheese at the meat market, butter and bread at the small grocery store; and fish bait at the liquor store. The Log Cabin Bar and The Pickled Loon were for fine dining.

Family time is the best time with uninterrupted hours of shared lives. No pretense of having to be someone else or somewhere else. Michael J. Fox said it best: “Family is not an important thing, it's everything.” That’s Up North!

En Theos

En Theos

One advantage of a Classical education is that I know a little Latin and Greek. This was a prerequisite in seminary and I struggled through it.  I even spent one summer school session at a monastery to get proficient. Although I don't use the languages any more they do come in handy when reading inscriptions on public buildings.

The phrase “en Theos” literally means “in God.” This Greek phrase is the root of our English word “enthusiasm”. Webster’s Dictionary defines enthusiasm as “a strong excitement about something; a belief in special revelation of the Holy Spirit.” From its root, enthusiasm literally means, “filled with God.”

Living at a time when evolution is taught as truth rather than theory, it is difficult to grasp that anything is filled with God. Now that our culture has successfully removed God from public life and relegated him to private devotion and Sunday church, any sense of God attachment to the real world is not politically correct. The explanation that everything and everyone evolved through the survival of the fittest leaves no room for the grandeur of God.

I live in one of the most beautiful places in the world. People come from all over to see the majestic mountains, the fertile valleys and the teeming wildlife. Although there is great respect for the magnificence of nature, there is little recognition of its creator. All the credit is given to the complex evolving of a natural order. It seems that mankind is filled with itself and there is no room for the Other.

The Bible presents creation quite differently. Although Genesis 1-3 is often considered a myth, the biblical truth is that there is a creator who made it all and he did a mighty fine job of it. I like what the prophet Isaiah says: “Holy, Holy, Holy, is the Lord of hosts, the whole earth is full of His glory.”

The whole earth is filled with God. Can you see it?