Check out the following quotes and guess who had the audacity to say them:

Geez, you’re fat!

You stupid loser!

Way to go, Einstein!

I mean… how could you do that?!

No wonder nobody likes you!

I don’t think you’ll be winning a metal for best parent anytime soon!

You’re such a lousy person – your spouse must be disgusted with you!

You don’t have friends because you don’t deserve them!

Your personality sucks!

You’re a failure: An utter… abject… reeking… failure!

If there is a hell, nobody deserves to go there more than you!

If somebody could say the wrong thing at the wrong time, you’re the one I’m betting on!

You have no willpower whatsoever. None. Zippo!

Okay, who said these things… and to whom did they say them? Continue reading…

There is a simple yet profound truth that says, ‘we never know forgiveness until we are confronted with that which is unforgiveable.’

This principle made me search my memory bank for a time I might have been confronted with the unforgiveable and nonetheless chose to forgive. I guess I should consider myself blessed that I couldn’t find such an occasion.

Don’t get me wrong, it was easy to bring to mind how I had been wronged along life’s path. There have been broken friendships, strained relationships and toxic partnerships – all of which ‘I thought’ required forgiveness on my part – but would I really say that in all of that I came face-to-face with that which is/was unforgiveable? Continue reading…

As I prepare to travel to Amman Jordan for the Pathways to Peace conference next week, I’ve been thinking a lot about what it would take to realize global peace in my lifetime. (As the bumper sticker implores us, ‘Visualize Whirled Peas’) There seems to be an undercurrent of anger (rage?) in the world that makes this goal pretty remote. Mostly, I think, because without the world buying into the idea of forgiveness, the voice of vengeance will continue to scream louder and more consistently than any of us have the power or resources to silence.

“Once blood has flowed,” says Raymund Schwager. “It is as contagious as the plague; violence begets violence.” Continue reading…

Yet another cultural hero has fallen. This week the many fans of Tiger Woods (and I’m one of them) awoke to reports that Tiger was in a minor car accident outside of his home. Details were sketchy but it appeared he may have been on medication which could explain how he could hit a fire hydrant and then a tree as he exited his property at approximately two in the morning – it was also reported that at the scene Tiger appeared to be going ‘in and out of consciousness.’

Initially I didn’t think much of it. I mean, hey, at two in the morning I often go in and out of consciousness as well – without any medication! I also remember wondering what the heck he was doing leaving his house at 2am. Continue reading…

When reading Judeo-Christian sacred literature, it’s astounding how quickly the idea of religion and violence merge. In the earliest part of the Book of Genesis there is this odd account about a sacrifice that eventuates in murder. After reading this text, many questions remain as we’re given scant detail – did God command the sacrifices or is it just a story about two brothers following rituals similar to those performed by the surrounding culture(s) of the day? [I guess you figured out I don’t take the story literally…] Continue reading…