What can we reason but from what we know? -Alexander Pope
What can we reason but from what we know? -Alexander Pope
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My first (knowing) foray into the world of AI (Artificial Intelligence) occurred not within a devoted app but in an online auction environment. It centered around listing an item for sale and describing said item in terms adequate to entice a buyer. Simple enough. As an infrequent seller, I had enough basic understanding to slog my way through the posting, complete with pictures and a short, to-the-point description which went something like this; “Lady Esquire Suede Compact cleaning brush. S...
Are humans’ best friends (dogs in particular) just what the doctor ordered? After being gone for a few days and sharing a reunion car ride with our dog, she peeked over the back seat with one of the most doleful I-thought-you’d-never-come-home-again looks imaginable. In one short moment she reminded us how much our animals support and sustain us. We are the ones who generally look after their basic needs – food, water, exercise, health – but they are the ones who chase tennis balls, bark at...
Like clockwork, color has once more intervened on our everyday senses in warm and reassuring ways. As in past years, a cry has gone up declaring this year’s foliage the best in many seasons, but we actually mean it this time. Who is to argue? There is nary a complaint about the crimson reds, iridescent yellows and bright oranges coming to life. It’s not just trees, either. It includes bushes, shrubs, ground covers, scrub oak and the cotoneasters to name a few. We take it as it is given to us,...
Immutable, unchanging, incapable of being changed. It is what we were taught when asked to describe characteristics of God. Other attributes in some way flowed easier — omniscient, invisible, immortal, ever-lasting. The labels sounded important and deified. As a child, I understood God to be active in our every day lives, never shirking opportunities to love us. Why, then, did God often seem far away? I theorized that the distance grew whenever we used clumsy sounding language, like “immutable,...
Nestled among the “whences” and ‘comeths’ of Psalm 121 (KJV) lies a calmness and certainty that draws us when times are difficult and trying. The archaic lingual forms embedded in scripture bring a sense of comfort and permanence, familiarity that transcends even the narrowest constructions of faith, and shaping our relation to the Divine. It is beloved scripture, an attempt to quantify the unquantifiable. What better images to employ than those of mountains rising from the pedestrian plains...
Time is a constant in our lives, though it can feel malleable depending on our awareness of its presence. Getting older appears to be a time accelerant. Recent months and years bring urgency to where we discern ourselves to be in any one moment, leaving important questions in their wake, particularly how we intend to structure the remainder of our lives. We are not alone in this. My grandparents often pondered what a surprise it was to discover they were crossing into uncharted territory in...
At the risk of others knowing how often I counsel our dogs, one phrase comes to mind. Read the room. Such wisdom is mostly imparted when calamity is a probable outcome. It is frequently shared when the dogs are not paying one whit of attention to things such as their sworn enemy (the cat) blocking the doorway, or jumping up on someone they are sure they love, but instead knocking them over (the neighbor for instance). In their eager one-size-fits-all focused bearing, they rarely piece together...
We hear it from a young age, “Don’t play with your food.” Mostly, it is about not making a mess for others to clean up, but it is also a reminder that food is a gift and resource not to be squandered. To be sure, we had our share of fun most times when food was integral to a gathering. It is a habit that grows with us into adulthood. Cliches abound regarding how to get the youngest among us to eat all their food rather than waste it. Meals become a game at times, a test of wills on other occas...
One of the advantages of growing up along the Front Range was the opportunity to experience varied climates, elevations and biomes within a relatively short distance. One could be at the top of Trail Ridge Road and home again on the plains that same evening. If one was observant enough upon their return near dusk, the headlights of cars coming around Rainbow Curve in Rocky Mountain National Park could be seen some three hours of driving time away. The sights and smells and chill air remained...
We are born of generations that covet finishing on top. From sports to academics to making the most of position, wealth, power and influence. Excelling is an admirable trait within its boundaries and most of us agree that striving to be our best is a discipline worth nurturing. What happens, then, despite best efforts, we fail to reach the pinnacle of our endeavors? Is it failure or opportunity, disappointment, or enlightenment? Reasons can be found to covet second place, but in the natural...
If you desire clarity over ambiguity, certainty over speculation and cold hard facts over hypothetical conjecture, one arena to consider fleeing might be theology. As much as we like to condense it to plain, simple, understandable principles, its passionate insertion into our daily lives is part of the cost of holding our faith near and dear. Most of us wouldn’t have it any other way in spite of the challenges it brings to the everyday, places already filled to the brim with calendars ripped f...
It was bound to happen sooner or later; the writing was on the wall. The advent of affordable electronics coupled with insatiable curiosity seekers came together in the form of yet one more must have product to hit the market, especially for ornithologists. Behold the picture taking and audio communications capability of first-generation digital bird feeders. My first response was not exactly filled with overdue anticipation. Do we really need to encumber society with one more AI driven app in...
We live in a world filled with slogans, declarations, and jargon beyond caring. It is pervasive and unsettlingly, particularly when directed at our younger generations. Sound bites have become sound bits have become momentary flashes and glimpses of a life into which people are rushing headlong without safely looking in both directions. The result is equivalent to a multi-car pile-up of no small proportion, each driver blaming adjacent drivers for the predicament they are in. The falsities are...
It’s time to dust off the boots, match your best jeans with your most colorful shirt and pull out that hat that’s been in the closet for the past 12 months. Fair time is at its height, a time-honored tradition drawing together both rural and urban elements, an opportunity to let down, get down, hoe down and claim a break from the pressures of daily life. Hardly a break, some would say. Leading up to its opening, young and old alike compete to be the best rider, show person, quilter, car...
This past week’s district church conference was hosted by my alma mater, McPherson College. Many of the same campus features of some 40 years ago remain firmly etched in my mind. Like most former students, there are highlights as well as cringe-worthy moments of my college career, a mash up of experiences constituting undergraduate rites of passage. We actually went to class most days, resulting in an expanded knowledge base that pressed the boundaries of the time but also impressed upon us t...
It was a perfectly good building in its day, six bays of finishing barn plus liquid manure handling capability. Sturdy, practical, and not too far off from today’s standards, the structure was bound to outlast the enterprise it supported. The dilemma that remains for subsequent owners is what to do with a white elephant. Since it is no longer part of a farming operation, every dollar spent on it is simply wasted money when it comes to deductibility. Nothing carries over. The most common a...
It is official. The annual gathering of members representing my denomination is in the books. For over 230 years, and a few early unrecorded events, the business of the church has been placed before a delegate body for deliberation. One need not be a delegate to speak one’s mind at the microphone, a time-honored ideal insuring that all have a voice. The speeches in support or non-support of business items mirror many protestant gatherings. We have our bright shining moments as well as those t...
On the anniversary of the founding of our republic, there remain concerns over the ongoing debate of the separation of church and state. Everyone, it would seem, has a position to take, and conversations on the issue can become quite complicated. The following account offers a deeper look into the events of a small rural 1040s church that was sharply divided in its theological position regarding church and state. The issue fully came to light when certain members of the congregation concluded...
More often these days there is the realization of time passing. Measured parameters are increasingly difficult to keep nicely contained. Their march into the future is persistent, relentless in ways that are difficult to quantify. What used to be current events are now historical markers centered around specific occurrences in our lives, some anticipated, others not. Is anyone else surprised at recalling events of over sixty years ago? Our own mortality is called into question when that is...
Numerous scriptural references allude to crowds forming whenever Jesus was nearby. The synoptic gospels (Matthew, Mark, and Luke) share common themes and formats in relating stories surrounding Jesus’ three-year ministry. The Gospel of John shares many of the same stories but uses more original material. One telling difference with John is that the author refers to miracles as signs. Jesus is also presented as a mystic. Mystic or not, all was not well for Jesus as the pressures of ministry m...
Spring has brought numbers of interesting things to our doorstep, most related to a wetter than normal start to the growing season. Peonies are blooming as never before, columbine have exploded in the partial sun, and the false indigo is ahead of schedule. In short, the perennials are performing better that can be recalled in recent years. The combination of mild weather, cool nights, ample rainfall and a head start on feeding the potted plants has resulted in a visual feast. Another highlight o...
Recent larger than normal rainfall amounts spurred weeds and flowers alike to new heights, exceeding their botanical potentials faster and more quickly than normal. The pasture is suddenly knee high, and the ornamentals appear to be healthier and happier than the last two seasons. Hail damage has been minimal thus far; and now you have someone to blame as the issue was first raised here. Purple mustard is thriving, as is the cheat grass to no one’s surprise. The township has begun hauling gravel...
An old axiom supports the premise that “you get what you give.” Many attest to its validity, but sometimes a little more intentionality is called for. When gifts become expectations, then grace ebbs from the equation, sometimes without our awareness. Unfortunately, the prosperity gospel is alive and well within many religious groups, amplified by the notion that if we had just a bit more disposable income that life would suddenly be grand and that God will bless us financially as of an ele...
Various metrics all point in the same general direction when it comes to measuring the evolution of the church. For years we depended on membership rolls, bodies in the pews, irrevocable declarations of a saving nature (or so it seemed at the time), numbers of activities offered each week, who threw the best funeral dinners, and the ever-popular cars in the parking lot informal weekly census, fair game for any church, church member or stranger in town for that matter. The desire to best others...
This is the time of year when professional sports teams are deep into basketball and hockey playoff runs, the kind that demand both individual and team efforts to move forward. Egos and self-centeredness carry little weight. Team play that is unselfish, however, is worth its weight in baskets and goals. An ability to adapt to changing game conditions often spells the difference between victory and defeat. Surrounding each contest are brief game-time interviews that focus primarily on what must...
