The Good Story

[Originally published in the Monroe News on March 29, 2024]

We need a renewal of good story-telling in our society.  So much of the new stories being portrayed have been overly modernized and have lost the values and virtues that we used to hold near and dear.  More and more we are being given stories that blur the lines of good and evil. We get stories that no longer teach or uplift.  We get as many anti-heroes lifted up as we do true heroes.  

What we need is a return to a good story.  And what is a good story?  It is one that brings together our families and communities in ways that help us grow stronger together.  A good story is one that inspires creativity.  A good story invites imagination.  A good story lauds and teaches right values and virtues. A good story should portray good and evil clearly and properly.

He More Than Get Us

[Originally published in the Monroe News on March 1, 2024]

We all enjoy having relationships in life with someone with whom we could say “he/she gets me.”  We look for people who understand us, who think like us, who enjoy the things we enjoy.  We long for friends and companions.

Author C.S. Lewis in his book “Four Loves” once described the very basics of friendship as being able saying to someone “What? You too? I thought I was the only one…”   We know the little quirks and idiosyncrasies that we each have.  We know the silly interests we hold.  How many parts of our lives do we think that we must be the only person on this earth who does that or who likes that. Until we find another.  A new friend.  Someone who gets us.  

If that phrase “gets us” rings a bell in your ear it is probably because you’ve seen the TV commercials being aired during major sporting events over the last couple years. They give depictions of Jesus and people of this world in various situations seeking to depict the Christian life and its maladies and then the slogan “He gets us” is used to as the overall message.