Spirit Gives Birth To Spirit

     If Heaven and Hell are eternal, what makes you think they would skip the present moment?  Where are you right now? I just came from Heaven a few minutes ago.  I was in my 7 week old daughter's new nursery.  My wife of 3 years was sitting in the rocker.  We put Delia in her little portable crib.  My wife had the Lullaby album she made a few years ago playing in the background.  Listening to my wife's beautiful voice singing lullabies, Delia drifted off to sleep.  I left and went up to the gas station and had a smoke.  While I was there, I thought this thought: Heaven and Hell are all around us at every moment.  I just left Heaven by choice.      When I was a younger Christian I was inundated by the view that Heaven was just somewhere you go when you die. After 20 years of reading scripture and attending church, I am less convinced.  Sure, I believe there is some sort of afterlife.  I really don'...

     I am going to delve into some metaphysics to make a point.  "I exist" and "nobody cares" are two opposite poles on a filament that determines human "being." If someone proclaims "I exist!" and they come believe nobody cares, then they will in fact, cease to exist.  I am not speaking metaphorically.  They will literally die either by their own hand or by through a painful and sometimes slow process of self neglect.  Every human being is at some point on this continuum at this very moment.  Every human being that has ever lived, too, falls on this continuum.  If one person remembers in some way that a person lived at some point in history, then that person existed.  If no one remembers, it is as if they never did. If nobody cares, it doesn't matter that a person existed (past tense) - because they have ceased to be.      Reach out to other people.  You may be the only reason someone is h...

     I have often thought that I am a bit like Frodo Baggins at the beginning of The Lord of the Rings. Young Frodo has lived his whole life in the Shire.  It is an idyllic place full of bright green grass, cozy houses, families and friends.  He is comfortable there, and does not have any desire to leave for the greater world beyond the Shire.  But still he dreams of adventure.  It does not occur to him that this adventure is to be found beyond the boundaries of his comfort.  The comfort of home trumps his wanderlust.  The world outside the Shire is the scary unknown. One day, he is visited by an old friend, Gandalf the Grey, who has something of a gift for him.  It small, unassuming ring.  This small ring is a powerful and ancient object that will change his life forever.  It will, in fact, change the entire world as he follows it into a great battle between good and evil for the fate of all of Middl...

     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.    ...