temparbor

Losing My Heroes

Part of growing up for me has been a painful process of losing most of my heroes. And I don’t mean they are dying off. I mean one by one they are falling off their pedestals. I’ve always been a cynic (which I’m not proud of) so have never had very many heroes anyway. ButContinue reading “Losing My Heroes”

Openness

The Case for Being Closed I was raised in a church tradition that almost discouraged openness. We were taught (by some very well-intentioned people, I should say) that we have to be careful what we allow ourselves to be open to. After all, evil (the devil) was around every corner. That’s Biblical, right? 1 PeterContinue reading “Openness”

Being Daddy

Dear girls, I haven’t sat down and written you a letter in a while, so I’d thought I’d take a minute to tell you how deeply you are loved. And I’m putting it on my blog for the world to see. I’m so proud of the people you are, and that you’re continuing to become.Continue reading “Being Daddy”

My Questions for God

I have written before that I am a “hopeless believer.” I can’t not believe. If I were to decide to become an atheist today, the first thing I’d do is pray and ask God to help me reach that goal. God is as deep in me as — well, as what’s deepest in me. AndContinue reading “My Questions for God”

Reflections on my 20 year high school reunion

Reminiscing hurts. It hurts in a way I can’t explain. It hurts in a bittersweet way. My 20-year class reunion was Saturday (Oct. 7). I can’t believe how awesome everyone looked and that’s weird, because at the ten-year reunion I thought a lot of people were looking kind of beat up. I found myself sittingContinue reading “Reflections on my 20 year high school reunion”

Fear Of Vulnerability

A moment ago I was re-reading through my most recent post when a scary thought occurred to me. “You can’t publish that. Someone in your congregation (or elsewhere) might take note of it and use it to hurt you down the road.” “I read your blog, Dave. I know you struggle sometimes with lack ofContinue reading “Fear Of Vulnerability”

Truth and Civility Election Watch Pledge

Could you sign on to this pledge? Truth and Civility Election Watch Pledge For the duration of the election season, I hereby pledge to uphold the highest standards of truth and civility in word, thought, and deed. On my honor, I will: • Just say no to crazy email forwards, and to any otherContinue reading “Truth and Civility Election Watch Pledge”

Truth, prt. 1

Our mission at Wildwind Church is to help people find, face, and follow truth. I could write a book on each of these. In fact, I will almost definitely do exactly that when I am finished with the book I’m currently working on (my working title is “You Know More About God Than You Think”).Continue reading “Truth, prt. 1”

Love, or correct beliefs?

“What matters more — love, or correct beliefs?” This is the question one of my Facebook friends posed on his page recently. (It received well over 100 comments). Part of one of my responses: People all over the planet could by and large agree on what love looks like. Saying we have to have correctContinue reading “Love, or correct beliefs?”

Squirrel Church

I went to church today. For about 15 minutes. By that I mean I stood inside looking out the window and watching a squirrel do his thing getting ready for winter. No anxiety. Nothing on his mind except whatever he was doing. And he lives OUTSIDE!! And he’s a lot lower on the food chainContinue reading “Squirrel Church”