The Back Table

Many of you know that I can't stand bananas. I can smell one from a mile away. I blame this banana hatred on my mother. She would pack one in my lunch nearly every day through elementary and middle school, and it would make everything else in my lunch taste like - you guessed it - banana. To this day, if I pass someone eating one I sometimes gag. One night I made the big mistake of eating one in front of my wife. She made fun of me the entire time I was eating it - all 45 minutes of it - laughing, moaning. Her face was red. At one point she couldn't even breathe. I'm serious! I have to admit, it probably was pretty funny watching a grown, bearded man painfully forcing a banana into his mouth gagging and dry heaving over a 45-minute timespan. But this whole banana thing got me thinking. Is this how we treat the Bible sometimes...like a food that we get tired of? I've caught myself and others kind of mocking scriptures in the Bible. Maybe not intentionally, but sometimes

There is this balance that i'm trying to live in - a balance I wish others would try to live in as well. It's the balance of caring and not caring and knowing what we should be caring about in the first place. I tend to care too much about what others think. I would admit to you that I am closer to one side of the scale...not good. But there are others who would fall on the complete opposite side of the scale. These would be people who have this underlying arrogance about themselves...not good either. Most times the over-confidence is a cover up to something they don't want people to see. Many people are drawn to this type of person or personality but usually only for a season. At first their strong opinions and social class seemed desirable but after hanging around them for a while you just want to say, "Who are you? Who put the crown on your head...did I miss the ceremony?" Here's my plea for all of us who find ourselves on one side or the other. Seek God an

I have this issue, chances are you have it as well...one way or another. It's the issue of everybody else and the impact they have on how we act, what we say, how we think, and what we do. For me it's the most annoying thing i deal with as a human. It's annoying because i wrestle with it constantly. I care way too much about what other people think and say about me. Right now, writing this blog, there are faces flashing before my eyes. And all the faces are you and i'm predicting in my mind how you'll react and what you'll say. I've written and erased, written and erased and written and erased some more. It's enough to drive a man crazy. I know i'm not a polished, established, famous writer and so i can't worry about what everyone is going to say- i'm just trying it out and seeing what happens. If it sucks, no one will read it. If its good or half decent people will read it. I've learned enough to know that i will never do anything, never