Life by Grace Alone

Except for 2 years my husband has been a pastor since arriving in California in July of 1976. Now after serving in 4 churches he is  a regional home missionary for our presbytery. Since October 1 Steve has been adjusting to a new work style. His first order of business was to set up his new office. In spite of getting rid of many of his books, he still had so many books that it took 3 trips to Ikea to get the right amount of shelves. He took me to his office the other day. Much to my surprise in spite of its smallness and multitude of books, his office is quite nice. He even has made room for a stuffed chair for reading when the computer isn't necessary. He still needs to get internet connection and a new cell phone and then the easier part will be done. It has not taken long for us to realize that he will have very little time for thumb twiddling. The list of possible sites for future churches is growing longer. The question is where should he make the priority. What should be m...

I remember hearing a story about a man who was about  to give a speech. The one who was introducing him happened to look at the top of  the speaker's notes and saw the the signature of the speaker's wife underneath the capital letters that spell kiss. The man included what he had seen in his introduction certain that was a sign of the sweet relationship this husband and wife had. The speaker then sheepishly confessed that the real meaning of the note was "Keep it short stupid." I'd like to change the meaning of the kiss acronym to "Keep it simple, self." I have often thought about this concept when I am writing something. Many times in an attempt to express too much, my multitude of phrases become entangled in a less than coherent fashion. I need to unpack the sentence and simplify. I am always briefly surprised at the ease of the solution. The clarity of my writing vastly improves when I keep it simple. A couple times I have belonged to a nationwid...