Jon C. Swanson's Blog, page 20

“I’m so glad we had these six months.”

That’s what the woman said to her sister, talking about the time they’d had since the diagnosis until now. It was a time of clarifying what mattered to them, about putting arrangements into place, about tying up loose ends.

I kind of laughed when she said it. Not loud enough for her to hear. I wasn’t laughing at her. I was laughing at all of us. We all have just six weeks to some change, a week to an accident, six months to live well.

And if you and I make the changes now, without the ...

On time.

“I don’t have time for that” can be a powerful time management tool. Somewhere close by must be another tool, an affirmation. “This is what I have time for.”

As I am writing these words, I have a list of options. Projects that need my attention. People that need my answers. What do I have time for? The options can be paralyzing.

Buried in that statement is a play on words.

It’s not just “What do you have time for” as a comment on the available quantity. It is also a statement about...

Was He Serious?

Rich Dixon has a serious question for us.

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Last time, I was worried.

Bureaucratic silliness blew up our plans for Freedom Tour Classic. I anticipated impending disaster. Those in our community reacted in a variety of ways.

I tried to respond to everyone with one thing in mind: “God isn’t worried.”

And I kind of wondered what to do with that thought.

Then Becky and I watched a fascinating – and timely – documentary on the life of Dietrich Bonhoeffer (Prime Video). An amazi...

A little about nudges and timing.

Funny story. 

One day last week, I wrote a quick study on 1 Thessalonians and grieving. (If you come to a men’s breakfast in Glen Ellyn (IL) on February 8, you’ll probably hear it.)

A couple days before, Nancy and I were at a thrift shop. It’s what we do for fun. It’s the ultimate cheap date. 

I seldom look at books anymore, since I need to read some of the many I’ve accumulated. But this time, at this store, I looked at the shelf. Simply looked at it.  

Immediately I recognized ...

each necessary, each valuable.

I had a completely different post ready for today. Then I decided that it wasn’t ready. It raised a couple questions I wasn’t ready to answer. But as I was reading through my sermon yesterday, I realized that this might be helpful.

It’s referring to one of the texts for Sunday, 1 Corinthians 12:12-31.

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We understand our aches and pains. Which is why Paul uses the image of the body to talk about the church, the body of Christ. We understand it every day.

What he says to all of...

A prayer for the third Sunday after the Epiphany

God.

We know that we are not like each other. We look different, we do different things, we feel different feelings.

We confess that often, we wish you had made us like someone else.
We confess that often, we wish you had made other people like us.
And we acknowledge that we just wish that people liked us. And that we liked them.

It’s harder, gap between who we are and who others are,
when we are in moments of pain and uncertainty.
Fear and sickness both make our thinking and feeling har...

Sometimes it’s pie.

Picking up from yesterday.

We are given messages to share with each other, messages that are given from God, through the Holy Spirit.

Sometimes it’s a message of wisdom, – a glimmer of insight for making the right decision, looking at two alternatives and seeing a third that reflects scripture in ways that have to be inspired.Sometimes it’s someone who at that moment simply believes with a resolve that carries everyone along.Sometimes it’s a word of healing of relationships or ...

What might count?

I’m going back to Tuesday, when I was talking about Jesus and wine.

We are waiting for Jesus to do the same kind of miracle. Our wine is all gone. Our family is sick. We are confused. People aren’t responding to our cries for help.

We are hoping for a miracle and we’re not seeing anything happen. We are praying and praying and someone is still sick. We are hoping and hoping and we are still without a job, are still without direction, are still wondering.

And we are waiting for God t...

Worried?

Rich Dixon invites us into a challenging season.

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The FREEDOM TOUR has encountered an obstacle.

I’ve spent the last few days fussing about it. Time for true confessions.

We discovered late last week that local governments won’t allow us to use the beautiful Fort Collins bike trails for our Freedom Tour Classic. Since all four of our traditional routes depend heavily on those trails, we’ve been scrambling for an alternative plan.

My first reaction to this sort of news isn’t h...

Sometimes we need help.

Sometimes the wine runs out.

The story isn’t going to end there, of course. We know where the Jesus-wedding-wine story goes.

But the non-fatal story that you are in the middle of right now is going to keep going, too. The embarrassment you are afraid of isn’t all there is.

Because you are no more alone than the father of the bride was at that moment. He probably though he was alone. But he didn’t know that Mary knew that her son had capacity no one had yet dreamed of.

He still has...