One of my favorite books is The Princess Bride. The movie is good, but not the same. The one-liners are classic. On the surface, it’s a standard fairy tale, and follows standard happily-ever-after format: Scene 1: Boy Meets Girl Scene 2: They...
Read moreTaming the Shrew – the Hesed of the Lord (Hosea Series)
In the movie 10 Things I Hate About You (a modern retelling of Shakespeare’s The Taming of the Shrew), Heath Ledger is a headstrong guy who successfully woos – or wears down, depending on your perspective – Julia Stiles, who plays a...
Read moreThe Prodigal Sons
In the awesome video from Sunday, we see what might be an all too familiar scene: a husband and wife fighting. In this case, she walks out on him, rejecting her husband and choosing a “fun” life over the stability and safety of her...
Read moreHosea 2: The Restraining Love of God
My great-grandma Amalia was a hoot. She was a feisty old German woman who had raised three daughters on a farm in the Panhandle by herself during the Depression and the Dust Bowl after her husband ran off. Granny was salty, and while she’d laugh...
Read moreMerciless Love: Hosea 1
I work with a lot of dentists, and in those projects, I’ve seen a lot of “before” pictures of really bad tooth problems that they’ve fixed. Black, crooked, chipped or even missing teeth. Teeth that look so rotten that they look completely beyond...
Read moreHosea: a Fairy Tale of God's Stubborn Love
Fairy Tales seem ingrained in us. We read them as children, and they form the structure for virtually every epic story mankind has ever told. A prince fights to rescue the princess from the dragon/tower/wicked stepmother, and they live happily...
Read moreTurning Traitor
In the movie “How to Train Your Dragon,” the hero – Hiccup – is in a tough spot. If you’re born into his town, you grow up to be a big, strong Viking who kills dragons. Hiccup is not big (a “talking fishbone”), and though he’s the...
Read moreIt's Not About the Benjamins
When I was in high school, a band called Big Tent Revival came out with a song called, “Two Sets of Joneses.” It told the story of two couples (both with the last name of “Jones”): Rothschild and Evelyn, and Reuben and...
Read morePutting Clothes on the Emperor
I read a lot of bedtime stories these days, and one of our favorites is the story of the Emperor’s New Clothes. You remember that one: two sleazy tailors agree to make the emperor a new suit (payment in advance). Of course, on delivery day, they...
Read moreTear down and rebuild
I swear to you that the Lord of the Rings theme this week is entirely unintentional. I saw Frank post his yesterday and sent him a message saying that I already had this one ready for today. At least we didn’t pick the same topic -Clay What...
Read moreMy Precious
In The Lord of the Rings, there’s a tragic character known as Gollum. Once a Hobbit, Gollum discovers the “One Ring” and becomes enslaved by his love for it, frequently refering to it as “my precious.” His outer body withers just as...
Read moreA Slow Burn
I’m always amused by people from outside the South who seem to think we have no appreciation for true art. And while there are many among us who have – ahem – interesting taste in something they refer to as “lawn art,” I would...
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