Spirit Gives Birth To Spirit

     I love being a father.  Our baby, Delia Simone Fant, was born four weeks ago.  These four weeks have been magical.  And I have learned so much about her, about my wife Aynsley, and about myself.  You see, before Delia was born, I never gave my wife enough credit.  She was always taking over-the-counter medications for the slightest stiffly nose or pain in some part of her body. I always said she missed her calling and should be a pharmacist. I was really worried she wouldn't be able to handle the pain and have the endurance for labor.  How wrong I was.  She was such a trooper.  And I grew so much closer to her helping her through it.  Late in the evening she had begun having slight contractions.  They progressed, getting more intense by 11:00 pm.  She labored alone for a while and then woke me up at 2:00 am.  We decided to go to the hospital.  She was really tired and the nurses said ...

     I know this sounds judgmental  but it needs to be said.  Donald Trump is not a Christian.  Or if he is a Christian, then clearly, I would want to call myself something different.  Why do I even take him seriously when he makes this claim?  It is because thousands upon thousands of Christians believe him.  So clearly, the term Christian has come to mean, for many people, something other than what it meant in the Gospels.      "Christian" in the gospels was used a handful of times and in those few references, there are two words that are commonly translated "Christian."  One is synonymous with "disciple" and the other is "Nazarene." The first place it appears is in Acts 11:26, where the author calls those who were disciples of Jesus "Christians." Acts 11 mentions specifically that the disciples of Jesus were called Christians first at the church in Antioch. What did it mean to be a disciple ...

  You are about twelve years old now.  I got you from the pound when you were two.  I don't actually know how old you are or when your birthday is because they just estimated by your teeth that you were about two years old.  I was such a lonely bachelor and I had a hard night.  I made up my mind to go to the pound and just look at the dogs the next morning.  When I pulled up, I saw you right away in your outdoor pen.  Without a second thought, I said to myself, this is my dog. You were so beautiful, with your brown short hair and your black Shepard muzzle and pointy dingo ears. I came in and took you for a walk.  You were just so happy to get out of that little 10x10 pen.  I took you home to my little apartment and made your birthday my birthday and we have celebrated them together all these years.  You were just happy to get a pig ear on your birthday.  I was so thankful every year on my birthday for your companionship.  ...

     My wife and I are home from the hospital again this week. This time with my baby girl in tow. She was born exactly a week ago and we came home on Monday. It is Saturday and I am sitting up in bed while my wife slumbers next to me. And next to her, in the bassinet, is my beautiful daughter.      I sit here watching the curtains move as the cool air from the air conditioner runs up them and out into the room. I am fretting about if I turned the temperature down 1 degree too much and Delia will wake up. Then she'll need to be fed by my wife, who really needs the sleep.  The air just shut off and Delia isn't stirring so I can relax.      Her name is Delia Simone Fant. Her first name is Greek and it means a resident of the isle of Delos. Simone is Hebrew and it means "she hears God and God hears her." So you see, she already knows more Greek and Hebrew than I learned in seminary.    ...

     I have a problem.  It is a problem that has dogged me for 36 years. Since I was about 5 years old. I have low self-esteem.  I was not born with this; I learned it.  It comes from a perfectionism and perceived failures at being perfect.  It is a vicious cycle that leads to an ever deepening sense of failure culminating in increasing erosion of self concept. It all started when I was 5 and 6 years old when my father left my family.  I say left my family, but he was really just leaving my mother.  But I didn't perceive it that way in my 5-year-old mind.  One of my earliest memories was my father leaving.  I wanted to help him carry his stuff out to the car and I dropped his shaving cream.  It exploded and he reacted to it.  I felt like it was my fault - the shaving cream and the leaving. After he left, at 5 years old, I regressed to wetting my bed and pooping my pants.  This ...

     I have a problem.  It is a problem that has dogged me for 36 years. Since I was about 5 years old. I have low self-esteem.  I was not born with this; I learned it.  It comes from a perfectionism and perceived failures at being perfect.  It is a vicious cycle that leads to an ever deepening sense of failure culminating in increasing erosion of self concept. It all started when I was 5 and 6 years old when my father left my family.  I say left my family, but he was really just leaving my mother.  But I didn't perceive it that way in my 5-year-old mind.  One of my earliest memories was my father leaving.  I wanted to help him carry his stuff out to the car and I dropped his shaving cream.  It exploded and he reacted to it.  I felt like it was my fault - the shaving cream and the leaving. After he left, at 5 years old, I reverted to wetting my bed and pooping my pants.  This i...

     I have been perplexed.  From the rise of Donald Trump to the exit of Great Britain from the European Union.  I did not see the connection in it and the many other events and conflict I saw in the world over the past year or two.  The rise of the ultra-right across the world over the increasingly loud protests of those who counter it. I saw the way people I know and love fell in line, grudgingly, behind Donald Trump. Trump, I believe, is quite possibly the most divisive and dangerous political candidate in recent history. I simply could not explain what was going on here or in Europe. Then I read a scholarly article on Nationalism vs Globalism.  It said that these events were coming from a divide that was growing in the world: Nationalism vs. Globalism. The Nationalists are people who are fiercely loyal to their country and they feel their way of life is being threatened.  Their way of life and values are threatened by the homo...