For years I’ve preached the fact that I do not believe in a separation of what many call the sacred and the secular. I believe such a division is made merely as a human reaction, and somehow flawed attempt, to describe the world as God might see it. However, reality is, God sees the world very differently than we do. As a matter of fact, He sees everything much differently than we do. In Isaiah 55 God declares that “His ways are not our ways and His thoughts are higher than our thoughts.” When we come to a full realization of what those words mean, then maybe we’ll stop trying to categorize a world where God sees only His creation.

Is everything perfect on this earth? Of course not. But, that does not change how God feels about and sees His creation. We must remember He is the Beginning and the End. That means He sees the world from the end of the story to where we find ourselves in this journey now.

When Thomas Merton transitioned from the monastery to living as a hermit one of his first journal entries pointed to this very same separation I’m addressing here now. On September 11, 1965 Merton writes; “Here, (in the hermitage), I see my task is to get rid of the last vestiges of a Pharisaical division between the sacred and the secular, to see that the whole world is reconciled to God in Christ.”

A Fellow Sojourner,
Dr. Rus

The lazy days of summer are rapidly drawing to a close and soon the leaves will start turning as fall makes another cool entry. The changing seasons usually make me ponder the events of the previous season. Did I accomplish all I set out to do? Did I accomplish what I should have focused on doing? Am I ready for the start of yet another season?

In the end, I guess I find great comfort in the words of Paul — “We keep moving forward with our eye on the prize, that which Christ Jesus has already won for us.”

As we journey through life, keeping our eye on the prize which Jesus won for us, is of the utmost importance. With that in mind, suddenly everything else that screams for attention, falls by the wayside as I ponder His grace and His mercy in my life.

A Fellow Sojourner,
Dr. Rus

Thomas Merton always seemed to walk a tightrope of complicated thoughts, in the midst of a simple life. That’s probably why he wrote so much. It was a way to possibly un-clutter his mind and sort through all the varied thoughts, ideas and yes, even tensions he found present in his everyday life.

We live in a world of many gadgets, which are in turn supposed to make life simpler. However, I often wonder if we ever do achieve the simple life by adding gadget after gadget into our lives. There was a time when I felt the need to have every new wild and fancy gadget that ever hit the market. In the end however, all this really led to was a life full of toys gathering dust on a nearby shelf. As I journey through this life I’m coming to realize that some of the gadgets are good, and when used properly, they can even help to make life simpler. However, other gadgets are merely toys taking up space, and making noise in an already busy schedule.

In the end, as we journey through each day, we need to look closely at what we’re filling our life up with, and then decide if it’s really making life simple or merely adding to the noise already around us.

A Fellow Sojourner,
Dr. Rus

The boys started back to school today. That of course means the closing of yet another summer, and the opening of another autumn. While summer doesn’t officially end for a couple more weeks, heading back to school usually signifies the end of summer. And so it goes, the cycle of life, and my oh my how when you have kids, that cycle seems to revolve around the school year.

I sometimes wonder if we’re moving forward in this journey, or simply spinning our wheels along the way. The days pass, and yes we all grow older, but how do we know if we’re moving forward or simply spinning our wheels. I guess the best way to answer that question is to reflect on where we’ve been, and look forward to where we going. While we all have different visions and goals for our lives, some big, some small, the best test is to see if we have indeed moved forward in any of the goals.

Moving forward means more than just growing old. I think moving forward also means learning from past experiences, so we can truly live life to the fullest in the future.

A Fellow Sojourner,
Dr. Rus

It really seems like a long lost phrase these days. There was a time when those words were regularly uttered around the dinner table at the end of the day. A time to gather together as a family, catch up on the events of the day, and look forward to the newness of the next.

But alas, life seems so busy now that many don’t even know what having dinner together as a family means. It’s something we’re trying to bring back to our house. It kind of goes in spurts and starts. But, for the most part, we do try to gather at the dinner table a few times through the week so we can ask the very simple question; What did you do today? I think sometimes we figure the answer to such a question needs to be long, filling in every detail of the day. But reality is, many times we’re looking for interaction with one another, and yes, even encouragement along way, as we reflect on the journey of the day.

I just read another entry from the Thomas Merton devotional and in this particular entry he was simply recounting the day and short visit he had with some friends. He simply jotted down a few thoughts of what they talked about, and how much he enjoyed the time with the friends catching up on what’s been going on in their lives.

So, what did I do today? Well, it is Labor Day, and it seems I did labor some. The day started with Sandra and I discussing some re-arranging in a room. She went after that with two of our boys, while I worked on some Live Line talk shows for air later this week. When I was needed to move furniture, I was called into the other room. Then it was back to my mixing program to finish off the shows.

By the end of the day, I must say we’ve had a very enjoyable day. We worked together as a family, and yes, we even managed to have diner together as a family around the table. To wrap it all up, we sat down for a couple episodes of the old show The Greatest American Hero. While some might think that show is far-fetched, and obviously not as well produced as the shows of today, I must admit, watching a show of old, with our sons these days, is quite fun, and I can’t think of a better way to spend some family time.

So, what did you do today?

A Fellow Sojourner,
Dr. Rus

This writing thing is really very interesting. As I mentioned in an earlier blog entry I’m currently reading a devotional book entitled A Year with Thomas Merton. The entry I just read seems so relevant, and yet also so irrelevant to my life. While Merton writes he is starting to read the book of Job, I am not even thinking of reading that book. It’s not that the book of Job is a waste of time, for it’s really far from that. I’ve spent time reading Job before and find it all very fascinating. However, at this point in my journey, it’s not really a book I feel like reading. So, in that respect, the reading was rather irrelevant.

However, in the same entry Merton talks about his writing. Should he continue to write, or should he stop writing. For in the end, he really is a writer, so what else is there for him to do. He even makes mention of possibly having paper and pen buried with him so he can in turn continue writing, even after he dies.

This whole line of thinking once again stirred in me the desire to write. For there are times when I do little writing, but even when I’m doing little writing, there’s still writing coming out in the form of those pesky little post it notes all over the top of my desk. Sometimes it’s not even post it notes. I find myself jotting down little thoughts here and there and randomly sticking them under a coaster I have sitting on the corner of my desk. The notes build and build and while I sometimes do little with them, they’re still there. At times they seem to call out to me as young children do when they want to be encouraged to grow. I guess one day the little notes may just grow up into full blown articles, or dare I say it, even a full blown book or two, or even more. But for now, the notes sit stuffed here and there.

Jotting down some thoughts.

Even if they don’t become more, I do believe it’s important for us to jot down those random thoughts we find along the way. I do believe they help us sort through this journey we call life. For many, those thoughts may never see the light of day. But, in the end, I believe they’re an important guide along the way helping us sort through life, emotions, and even problems or situations along the way.

A Fellow Sojourner,
Dr. Rus

It seems this afternoon was filled with tech support conversations. It all started with a problem of not connecting to the Internet at all. That was followed by the discovery that my godlaughs.net domain does not seem to be working.

The good news is, my Internet connection problems were solved. The somewhat bad news is, my godlaughs.net site still seems to be down. First I spoke with one tech support person, then I sent an email to another tech support person. They keep telling my someone is pointing to the wrong IP address. I have a hard enough time remembering how to spell some domain names, let alone figuring out what to do with all those really strange IP numbers. But alas, hopefully it will all be sorted out soon.

All this IP talk of pointing the domain to the right place reminded me of how many people think they need to connect with God. It can all seem very confusing to someone not up on all the Christian hype, lingo and clichés. Why is it humankind likes to complicate so many simple things. The “keep it simple” rule really does work.

When wanting to connect with God, all we need to do is talk. While it’s true sometimes we wonder if Anyone is listening, we can rest assured He is. In the end, as we journey through this life, we do indeed discover He is easier to connect with than we think, and we don’t need an IP address to figure it all out.

A Fellow Sojourner,
Dr. Rus

The new Samuel L. Jackson movie opened over the weekend entitled Resurrecting the Champ. It’s about a retired boxer who’s living on the streets, and a second generation sports writer trying to find his big break. Little does he know, that while trying to find his big break with a big story, he in turn discovers his voice.

At the beginning of the movie a particular line jumped off the screen at me and I quickly wrote it down. While the young writer was talking with the newspaper editor about why he couldn’t get more prominent placement in the paper, the editor replied saying; “I see a lot of typing, but not much writing.”

Wow! What an incredible thought!

During the past few days I’ve been contemplating that phrase. Many times we type and type and type, but very little really gets written. Of course as a writer, that is of great concern to me. But what does that phrase really mean? I’m sure there’s much more to it, but after a brief look at the phrase I think it hooks in with the idea that if all we’re doing is jotting down facts about any given situation, we’re just typing. But, when we go behind the facts, and discover how the facts in turn link to life, and dare I saw it, our own personal life, then we move into the area of writing.

The older I get the more I realize the importance of purpose and destiny. How are we affecting those around us? How are we living our lives? Are we simply typing the script of our lives moving from one random incident to another? Or, are we writing the script of our lives, interacting with life and growing through each and every experience.

A Fellow Sojourner,
Dr. Rus

Another weekend has almost finished once again. While some live for the weekend, many live for the week. Living for the week means looking for opportunities to encourage those around us with words of hope we may have received over the weekend.

Today we visited another church in the area. The speaker was very uplifting and he reminded us of the importance of looking at the areas in our lives where we’ve tasted of the refreshing waters of a great well. For whatever reason, many old wells become filled in with the distractions of life. When this takes place, we become not only frustrated, but we also lose touch with our foundation. The foundation is always what one builds on in order to move forward in our purpose and destiny in life.

As I wind down yet another weekend, and another night, I’m meditating on what wells in my life need to be re-opened, cleaned out, and re-claimed. My prayer is, that you will do the same.

A Fellow Sojourner,
Dr. Rus

A pretty major storm went through our area last night. It was one of those storms where everything is quiet, and then suddenly thunder starts crashing and rain starts teaming. It only took a couple close shots of chain lightening before the power went off and then, adding more drama to the storm, everything got very dark.

Off to the china cabinet my wife went in search of candles, while the boys and I went in all directions looking for flashlights. Our middle son was working at the radio station, so I headed up to make sure all was well there. The back parking lot was like an ocean, so first I moved cars out of the water, and then headed down the road toward the station.

It was a very odd storm with a mixture of chain and sheet lightning. The rain would come and go, sometimes hard, sometimes not so hard. Making my way toward the station I also found myself avoiding tree branches along the way. All the time our oldest son was riding shotgun keeping his eyes peeled for big puddles, tree branches, and from time to time, even bigger branches. In the end, all worked out well. I think the power was out for a couple hours, but nothing major really happened.

The storm reminded me of what life can be like sometimes. Things are going well, when suddenly along the journey we find ourselves in the midst of a storm that seems to come up out of nowhere. When the storms of life hit us, how do we respond? Many panic, some bury their heads, while others declare “Oh woe-es me!”

How should we respond?

I’m reminded of the story about a group of men who suddenly found themselves tossed to and fro in a boat in the middle of a storm. The Person riding shotgun that day calmed the storm with a single word. So the story goes, the men found themselves safely on the shore, out of the storm.

So, did the storm stop completely? I really don’t know. But I do know this, the Person riding shotgun that day calmed the storm and helped the men find rest on shore. I also know the same Person is available today to help us find our way safely to shore too, when we’re in the midst of the storms of life.

A Fellow Sojourner,
Dr. Rus