In the ancient world they didn’t have ways to transport the animals, so they would walk them to the place where it would be slaughtered. I’m not sure what the animal was thinking on that walk.

When the steel is red hot, the danger is obvious. Typically, people get burned when the steel is no longer red but still extremely hot. It’s easy to forget the warning, and that can be a very painful lesson.

I had to go down a flight of steps to reach the basement door. It was hard to see in the darkness, but I could make out that the basement door had been kicked open. Not good.

Marriage seems like it would be so easy when you fall in love. But the truth is marriage is hard. You start by blending together people from two different backgrounds and experiences. There are so many things about daily life we don’t even think about until your new life partner does something different than how you are used to doing it.

Sticks and stones may break my bones, but words will never hurt me. I’m not sure where that saying came from, but I heard it often growing up. I wish it were true. But alas, it’s not. The damage caused by hurtful words lasts far longer than it takes to heal a broken bone.

The Proverb is addressing the problem of people that are lazy and won’t work. It’s fascinating how a book written 3,000 years ago can be so relevant today. Apparently, people haven’t changed much over the years.

Even after all these years I continue to be befuddled by some people’s utter determination to make a mess of their lives. The question for us is what do we do about that? What is my responsibility to people bent on self-destruction?

Why would people think God is somehow either embarrassed by or irrelevant to the conversation about our sexuality?

You compromised again and again until you found yourself signing on the bottom line for something you can’t afford. Now you’re in trouble.

I must have had a T-shirt on that said sucker from Nebraska because we were only a few blocks into the Old Town neighborhood when a gentleman rolled up to me on roller skates. He was colorfully dressed with lots of items to sell. I asked about a wristwatch, and he quickly produced several out of thin air.

It’s interesting how many people agonize over what they put into their stomachs but seem pretty undiscerning about what goes into their hearts.

There are many today who see the world the same way. God is at the top of the bluff and there are many trails that lead up to Him. They believe it doesn’t matter which one you take because they all end up in the same place.

I think a lot of people feel that way today. There are competing voices yelling at us all day long what to do and believe. If you don’t fall in line, there are more voices to yell us back into submission.

Three to four times a week I would put on my coveralls, mittens, scarf and helmet and travel across town on the fringe of perishing from the cold just to see her. Why? I was in love. It wasn’t a hardship.

You can find so many things on the internet. Some useful and some not. Certainly, you can find seemingly unlimited amounts of information, but you can’t necessarily find wisdom. Information and wisdom are not the same.

Skillful living is about living well with others. It’s not hard to live skillfully all alone on an island somewhere (at least the kind of skill we’re talking about in Proverbs). Relationships expose us.

Is that really where we’ve landed? Have we set the bar so low that what encourages us is that the next guy is as miserable as we are? I think for many people that is where they’re at. They’ve resigned themselves to a life of misery as if there is no alternative.

One of Lincoln’s real treasures is the Sunken Garden at 27th and Capital Parkway. It offers a magnificent display of colors and textures and ponds and paths. It’s beautiful. However, I have a secret that you must promise not to tell. It is highly likely that no one in Lincoln has been kicked out of that garden more times than me.

One concern today is how people tend to divide up people into compartments. Like pieces of a pie we divide people up into mental, emotional, physical, social and spiritual.