Ridge

Want to learn to swear like St. Paul? That's right, first century greek cuss words. Skubalon – as in Bull-Skubalon – was the most vulgar word we know of for crap/dung/poop. And St. Paul uses it to describe all the noise and other stuff competing with The Way of Jesus. Because sometimes all the competing […]

There is a HUGE difference between going through the motions, and fully engaging in the art of a thing. Whether riding a motorcycle, practicing martial arts, or exploring our connection to God, just because we can talk about it, invoke catch phrases, know data, and do actions… does NOT mean we are Seeing, or that […]

Desire – most of our lives are influenced (run? dictated?) by what we want, how we want it, when we want it, and what we feel about all of that. And yet, we spend so little time examining the details of what we want and why we want it. True peace, contentment, and freedom come […]

We continue in Sound Bites: 21st Century Proverbs at The Ridge (first podcast in the series!) with “Bandages and Beauty Marks”. We will be talking about something OLD: Order/Disorder/Reorder; something NEW: “Resurrection- I woke up like this”; something BORROWED: Can I borrow a cup of Hope?; and something BLUE: Bruises are blue, right?

Happy Easter my friends! This is the most unique Easter I have experienced in many ways. And for MANY people I deal with day in and day out Easter appears to have zero import/impact on life, even if they pay it lip service. So we are going to talk about the Congruence and Confluence (the […]

Palm Sunday – palm fronds in church or the day to celebrate all heretics??? It’s also the day Ive been planning since this series started to talk about my “Heretic” ink. Weird? Not by a long shot. Anti-Power protests, Anti-corruption parades. Lets dive into the Heretical/Political Street Theater that we now call Palm Sunday. The […]

Have you ever gotten motivated to start a new habit, or put down a bad one, come out of the gate hot with new actions and motivation, only to eventually sputter, get frustrated, and end up back at square one (or worse)? Wash. Rinse. Repeat. That frustrating cycle can seem even worse after a year locked inside our houses and heads staring at the mirror. Let’s try something else: The Jesus Way.

A lot of people wonder if spirituality, faith traditions, or religious beliefs matter at all anymore. Especially during a pandemic. And while a lot of faith traditions stumble by focusing on the HOW of life (doctrines, dogmas, traditions, etc) instead of the WHAT (being better humans and living lives of love, peace, grace, joy, etc) there remains GREAT VALUE in seeking out the ancient wisdom found in faith community. Wisdom. Equanimity. Living a Centered, NonReactive Life. Responding from Wisdom, instead of Reacting in Fear or Anger. Beauty. Love. Joy. Peace.

There is a hidden killer that is stealing people’s joy, purpose, and contentment. It is wiping out careers, finances, and even lives. I am not talking about CoVid-19... I am talking about loneliness. It makes us sick, robs us of many good things, and affects most of us. But it doesn’t have to. I want us to talk about what this loneliness epidemic looks like in the middle of a viral pandemic.

Spiderwebs worn as tattoos on the elbow, back, or knees often tell a story of feeling "Caught in the Web" of the U.S. Criminal Justice System. How do people who seek to live good, spiritual lives - lives modeled after Jesus or the Kingdom of God, for example - interact with that system? Because as good as intentions may be, there are cracks, fissures, and in some cases, total collapse.

Some stories are "true", "wise", or "good", because we read them on the internet. Posted one minute ago, and then taken down just as fast. Other stories have been tried, tested, and reviewed by people, in a process, over a period of time. These "Stories in Ink" prove true and deserve to be more indelible.

How can THEY think THAT!?!? Have you found yourself thinking anything along those lines during this pandemic/election/time of upheaval? Well, when we step back and look at how we grow, our own story to this point, and where we are headed as a people, and as individuals, we begin to see places where empathy and understanding can take the lead over rancor and division.

When we lose our sense of Center, and everything becomes about me, we abandon our common humanity, and begin to blame and accuse.  In this podcast, we explore what it looks like to hold our common Humanity high and work at Absorbing and Transforming our pain, until we are able to say as a community of humanity - "This is US".

The Path to Wisdom has always been one of Order, Disorder, Reorder. A way we know, a disruptor, and a new normal. Life, Death, Rebirth.

When the world changes so much that we don't know how it works anymore, we often can become embittered, distrustful, defensive, and reactionary.  We can start fighting each other instead of coming together to work the problem. No more Me and mine (or You vs Me!).  We need Us versus the Problem!

I earn.  I owe.  I deserve. Those concepts are so ingrained into our culture that they are almost indistinguishable from our self-concept.  It impacts how we see each other, our self-image, and even if/how we see God. But the reality is - we do not DESERVE anything.  Because our very lives are a gift... It's time to intentionally acknowledge, the GIFT ECONOMY.

A wandering teacher in a poor, little known part of the world, told stories to crowds of people being starved into oblivion.  They were dealing with racism, classism, gender issues, corrupt leaders, financial corruption, and multiple uprisings. Sound familiar?  I am of course speaking of Jesus... and how the stories he told inform us today in the equally turbulent 2020.  Join us for Ripped From The Headlines.

Working from home. No work. More work. Figuring out how to do life at a distance. Masks. Finances. Zoom happy hours and helping grandma set up video... for not doing much, does anyone else feel the need for a little R&R?  Jesus did. And we rarely understand how SELFISH (kind of) he was. 

Ginosko - Experiential knowledge - We are learning that we are all playing follow the leader... and sometimes it seems, there is no leader.  We are learning for ourselves who we want to lead and how.

Corrupt leaders. Politics. Life and death consequences. Authority questioned. Truth defined and redefined. Expertise in doubt.  No, I am not talking about today's headlines. I am talking about the world of Jesus. The one he BLEW UP with new ideas about what it means to live, to know, and to follow. And his truth is still as seismic today as it was then.

Health: not only the absence of pathology, but the pursuit of general well-being - Three component of health - physical, mental, and spiritual - all need attention during this pandemic.  This Mother's Day, we see how Jesus offered healing in all three areas to a woman who needed hope, life, and love... and how we can increase health in our own lives and the lives of those we love.

Apocalyptic Rituals - rituals are things that help us recognize the sacredness/specialness in the every day; that remind us that all things truly are spiritual.  Wearing masks, pandemic grocery shopping, and intentionally connecting with friends during social distancing all serve as rituals to age-old spiritual practices.  Gratitude.  Hope.  We will not only get through this, we can be better humans for it.

Liminal Space - being in the space between no longer and not yet.  Learning to use your "left-handedness" to help create what is to come is the ultimate opportunity!