Hello!
Some of you have been perusing this blog for years. Thank you for your interest. You pretty much know your way around my fulminations.
If you are a visitor to this blog, however, its layout may confuse you. I started it ten years ago when I had some down time due to back trouble. At the time, I wasn’t sure what I was doing. I just took a leap into the abyss and hoped it would be okay. After a while, I wished I had set it up differently, but I just kept going. I confess that it is not well-organized. I would call it a patchwork quilt, but I don’t want to insult all the quilting bees out there. It’s more like an obstacle course! Anyway, my posts follow current events, random thoughts and musings, assigned topics for periodicals, sermons I preach (or intend to preach), and responses to controversies raging at any given time. I also include complete or sample chapters of forthcoming books. Therefore, there is no overarching theme that informs or guides my material.
The best way to navigate the blog is to type a topic in the search box. Even that may not get you where you want to go. It depends on how much time you have or how serious you are about researching a topic. I have hundreds of postings, and many of them are analytical, cryptic and/or tedious articles mixed in with tongue-in-cheek, sarcastic or impudent rants. Impulsivity triggers much of my writing, so you never know what you’re going to get. That probably won’t change because that’s what makes it fun for me. And, I’m not doing this if I don’t enjoy it.
I’m often curious about the preponderous searches for certain subjects. The subjects that spark the most interest are “alabaster box” and “spiritual power and spiritual authority.” (Okay, my computer says I should use “is” instead of “are.” I don’t know. “Is” sounds funny to me.) I get the second topic, but why is there such interest in the alabaster box? Maybe it’s the award-winning song, “Mary’s Alabaster Box” that my friend, Janice Sjöstrand wrote that inspires further study. It could be the beauty of the story itself, but why this story out of so many in the gospels? I don’t know. Mysterious. I guess it shows that people are greatly attracted to iconic or symbolic relics. I heard one time that you could build a forest out of the splinters of the cross found in cathedrals all over Europe. One would hope that the symbol is not as important as the theme it represents.
Feel free to drill down deep into this blog. Write me a note of response, whether it’s good or bad. I do want to communicate my thoughts in a helpful and explanatory way—which is why I’m writing this particular piece. (Did you know that the word “particular” is totally unnecessary? So is the word “totally.” My word processor fusses at me for using them.) In the end, however, I listen to my own heart and write accordingly. The enjoyment of the reader remains secondary to the fun of putting my thoughts into words.