A Pilgrim’s Odyssey

The Joy of Levi's 501 Shrink-To-Fit

We are flesh and blood, purely organic creatures. The joy of shrink-to-fit Levi’s Jeans hearkens to the beauty of this.

They are not expensive, but when done right, priceless. Made of non-sanforized cotton, if you are careful they will fit you like nothing else in our age of petroleum produced clothing.

My method: buy yourself a pair about 2 inches longer than usual and 1 inch in the waste bigger than usual. Boil in water, let them sit for an hour, drip dry for 30 minutes, and then wear them till they are dry. It’ll take a few hours or more. Do this twice. Enjoy.

That 100% cotton is now part of you. Grab a sweet tea, sit in the evening summer breeze and stair across a green field knowing that you have about all you need to appreciate the things that matter. And maybe listen to a podcast of two!

Beware Of The Straw Man

One consequence of electronic, impersonal communication is that it is easier and more attractive than ever to create a straw man to argue with.  I will create a caricature of you, or maybe just lie, and then I’ll tear that image down. And worse, even though I’m attacking this false narrative, I act like I’m attacking the real argument, not the straw one.

Someone living in an echo chamber uses the straw man the most frequently. Live in a bubble where all your ideas are confirmed, straw men will start popping up everywhere. How do you avoid this? This is important to consider because we can all fall into this, even when we are well-meaning.

Today I will discuss a great resource I found for college students to avoid straw man arguments in writing papers. It is good advice for you and me, and it is also a great way to look at someone else's argument to determine whether or not they are relying on a straw man.

God, Team, Fun - No "I"

I've been preparing for a basketball coaches meeting today, the theme - God, Team, Fun – No “I” and managing expectations.

I think there are some lessons here for all of us.

What's In That Ditch?

On a long walk to Walmart from my hotel today in Savannah, Georgia, I came across a ditch with an interesting history. I’ll share that in today’s podcast. Driving, I would have never noticed, and I doubt many other people do.

It got me thinking, what else do I not notice? What life happens right under my nose? Where should I be looking?

We Need True Radicals!

We need true radicals! Now, more than ever!

Radical about family.

Radical about faith.

Radical about personally helping the poor and downtrodden.

Radical about visiting prisons.

Radical about living for the things that matter.

Something Is Coming

Can you feel it? Something is coming.

I hear this all over the country in my classes. There is a strong feeling that although we are exiting Covid, something else is coming, something bigger.

Today, we discuss what that might be.

The Power Of Listening

Listening seems to be a perishing skill.

That might not be more apparent than a visit to your local health clinic. While the staff at our's is very nice, come in with anything outside of the box, you might as well start googling on your own. Ask for alternatives, you might as well start googling on your own. Ask them something not listed on their screen, you’ll see a “are you speaking” look on their faces.

But it’s not just there. With more information at our fingertips, people seem less inquisitive. I see this traveling as I steel glances at people’s “smart” phones and observe that most of their time is spent numbing their minds.

Listening is powerful. The secret to your relationship problems, family issues, business difficulties, might be as simple as shutting up and listening to someone.

James 1:19 – “My dear brothers and sisters, take note of this: Everyone should be quick to listen, slow to speak and slow to become angry.”

Inflation And Complacency

The Labor Department has released a report that US Inflation was at its worst since 2008, and it is rising. Pay attention, don’t be complacent for what may be coming. Use it as fuel to be proactive in all areas of your life.

From a Wall Street Journal article on the report:

“The Labor Department said May’s increase in consumer inflation was the largest since August 2008. The jump followed a 4.2% rise for the year ended in April. The core-price index, which excludes the often-volatile categories of food and energy, rose 3.8% in May from a year before—the largest increase for that reading since June 1992.

Prices for used cars and trucks leapt 7.3% from the previous month, driving one-third of the rise in the overall index. The indexes for furniture, airline fares and apparel also rose sharply in May”

Food makers said their costs are climbing at an alarming rate, prompting them to raise some prices. “The inflation pressure we’re seeing is significant,” General Mills Inc. Chief Executive Jeff Harmening said at a recent investor conference. “It’s probably higher than we’ve seen in the last decade.”

Lessons On Charity And Living

Yesterday, we remembered Jack London. His inspiration and his hard lessons. Today, a few short selections from the great writer to discuss and ponder:

“A bone to the dog is not charity. Charity is the bone shared with the dog, when you are just as hungry as the dog.”

“The proper function of man is to live, not to exist. I shall not waste my days in trying to prolong them. I shall use my time.”

Jack London: The Call Of Things That Matter

The writer, Jack London, hearkened to the call of the wild, but the wild might have gotten the best of him.

At the age of 13 he worked 12-18 hours a day in a cannery. He left that to become an oyster pirate. At 17, he signed onto a schooner and sailed for Japan. Along with some other incredibly hard jobs, he lived the life of a tramp shortly at the age of 17. After all of this, he returned to High School.

Then in 1897, at the age of 21, he joined the Klondike gold rush, and the experiences there would fuel his literary career. He began writing magazine articles and by 1903 he had published, The Call of The Wild, and was world famous. He was 27.

A lifetime of experience behind him, and what looked like a long successful life ahead of him, Jack London suddenly died at the age of 40. He’d had many sicknesses in his life, and he had become an alcoholic who relied on morphine for his physical pain. The wild had overcome the great American novelist.