Part 3: Sticky Labels

Merle7 CommentsLife Lessons, Spiritual Growth, , , ,

I was born with a label stuck to me. The doctor could easily see that scrawled on a sticky label on my back was the single word, “Amish.” From that, I’m sure he made quite a few assumptions about my life and potential. Sometime during the first months of my life, that original label was pulled off by my parents and replaced with one “Mennonite.” The old label hadn’t yet stuck hard enough to rip my skin. Any observer would now make some different assumptions about me. I wore that label in my childhood and teen years with a growing Read More

Part 2: Justifiable Hostility

Merle6 CommentsLife Lessons, Spiritual Growth, , , , ,

Before we start “As We Are One…” Part 2, I’m going to pick up some key ideas from Part 1: What if we Christ-followers would still consider The Cause, defined by The Cross, as an overarching and governing category of unity and belonging and action? What if we who wear the Christ-label determined that any other cause, though worthy, is not even remotely capable of destroying the unity by which we pledge allegiance to The Cause? If Jesus wishes his followers to be completely unified through a first allegiance to The Cause, how would he expect us to respond to Read More

“As We Are One…”

MerleLeave a commentSpiritual Growth, , ,

One lady pictured with me is my wife. The other four ladies are my daughters. You can figure it out. We are one family, but we are not the entire family. We are individuals, and we are one family. We think and believe differently; so we subject our words and actions to what it takes to remain one family. Whether, or not, you celebrate it, the Boston Red Socks won the top place in major league baseball. We can notice individual players and staff and give credit or blame to what someone did as an individual. Or, we can rightly Read More