This photo was from Christmas break 2006. I just thought it was cool.

Early on when I was first attempting to learn the game of golf I remember it being an entirely frustrating experience… The entire sport is so impossible! I knew very little about keeping score… which club to use… and I quickly learned that, no matter how skilled you are at controlling a little white ball over acres of varied terrains, that it really wasn’t about skill… the sport is all about managing errors.
But one day I learned something that changed everything. One day I went golfing with a couple of older men I knew. The first guy went to tee off. He placed his ball on the tee, hauled back and smacked it. And it veered drastically to the right – and I mean really badly – into the empty chaparral hillside. …and things were a bit uncomfortable for a second… we all paused for a moment… and then his partner looked at him and said, “Want to take a mulligan?” The other guy said, “Yup. Better.” And he dropped another ball. And hit it! » Read The Rest

Most of us are familiar with the term “politically correct” – although I’m not sure many of us can define it very well. It rarely has to do with politics and often… it isn’t even correct! The more humorous ones are things like: It’s no longer called “toilet paper” – it’s “bathroom tissue”. There are no short people – they’re “vertically challenged”. Companies no longer fire people they “curtail redundancies in the human resources department.” It’s politically correct to save the rainforest (jungle). It’s politically incorrect to wear fur. It’s politically correct to recycle. But it’s politically incorrect to oppose abortion. It’s politically correct to live and let live. And it’s politically incorrect to believe or express anything exclusive or morally defined.
What is political correctness? This is a stab at a general definition. It refers to the prevailing opinions, values and standards of our culture to which we feel pressure to conform.
There are a few laws to go by to help you identify political correctness. » Read The Rest

In August this year our staff had the opportunity to attend one of the satellite locations of the WCA leadership conference at Journey Church in La Mesa. One of the speakers was pastor John Ortland who is also the author of a book called The Life You’ve Always Wanted. It’s a book about how God uses the practical disciplines of the Christian Life to change us from the inside out. And in chapter 10 he explains that in theory all of us affirm the idea of purity (we generally like it). But in practice we often settle for less – often with results that are disastrous. He says, » Read The Rest