Many of us have heard about "insider trading" in Wall Street. We know that it is not a good thing, and many people have faced the consequences of having "insider knowledge" of stocks that may tank or flourish that others are not privy to. Trading with insider knowledge is illegal in this country. Unfortunately, it is probably done more times than we have knowledge about. In the grand scheme of this activity, we have been assured it is a bad thing as far as legal jeopardy (if you get caught). Churches are sometimes guilty of using insider knowledge — consciously or unconsciously. The results can be damaging either way. For example, every congregation I have served as an interim pastor has ask

One of the items of discussion that comes up frequently in an interim time is the above question. And while the normal time for a transition, such as having an interim, selecting a search committee, and calling a settled pastor ranges from thirteen to fifteen months, parishioners want to know the progress of the search committee. Having said that while the "normal" range is the above time frame, the interim and the leadership of a congregation must decide together when they have addressed all those items the congregation needs before beginning the search and call process. The last thing any congregation wants to do is not be prepared to call a pastor without being in a position to move forwa

I run to you, God; I run for dear life. Don't let me down! Take me seriously this time! Get down on my level and listen, and please — no procrastination! Your granite cave a hiding place, your high cliff aerie a place of safety... My troubles have worn me out, turned my bones to powder. To my enemies I'm a monster; I'm ridiculed by the neighbors. My friends are horrified; they cross the street to avoid me. They want to blot me from memory, forget me like a corpse in a grave, discard me like a broken dish in the trash. (Parts of Psalm 31: The Message Translation) "Back in the day" there was a TV sitcom that starred Patrick Duffy and Suzanne Somers called Step by Step. It was about two familie

13 For it was you who formed my inward parts; you knit me together in my mother's womb.14 I praise you, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made (Psalm 139:13) American English is filled with all sorts of idioms that can leave learners of the language more than a little confused. An idiom is a phrase or expression of which the actual meaning is different from the meanings of each word separately. If we say that someone is "under the weather," for example, most Americans understand that phrase to mean that the person isn't feeling well. A non-American, on the other hand, might wonder why a person would be standing outside "under the weather" and what that has to do with him or her missing work

Somewhere around ten-to-twelve years of age, I had a passion for collecting arrowheads, spearheads, axe heads, etc. I can't remember how I exactly came to an intense liking for them. I also don't remember who it was that gave me my first arrowhead. But I do remember that I became "hooked" on collecting them, studying them, and even doing some historical research as to what Native American tribes might have existed in the area where my "treasures" were found. When looking at an arrowhead or spearhead, I would check out the various "slices and chunks" that had been made while they were being made to the shape they were as I held or looked at them. I wondered what it took to create these in a w