Rabbit Trails and Spiderwebs

Stem Cell Christians Have you ever noticed that some people can seemingly fold into a conversation with the hurting and almost instantly become one with them?   Have you had this happen to you, have you seen the value in a friend when it took place for them?   Have you wished to be able to do this as easily and wondered at the reasons why you cannot.   Have you considered the things that take place, evidently beyond any planning and thought, that allow it to be so fluid and smooth and to be as completely effective as it is?   As well, I am certain the plastic and shallow attempts that repel and fall short are as equally strong in your memories.   So it is that we are to ask “why” and “If so, can I learn?” What would be the steps to know this? What are the parts of these people that I am missing and is it something that can be acquired, learned, taught, understood, imputed, or given? What does that process look like?   From where are we to begin? To begin w

The Broken Prayer… Habakkuk What was it that I needed to do?   I prayed with faith.   I prayed with expectation. I prayed unceasing. I cried out early in the morning. I cried out in the cool of the evening. I prayed with others, and I prayed alone.   I had a contrite spirit. Didn’t I? You promised, and I cried out.   What was I missing?   What was I to do?   My Prayer was broken…I was alone. In my aloneness I found disappointment.   In my hurt I found that anger was close.   Not hostile and not HOT, but very much real and very much close.   Something that I needed to deal with, certainly, but I wasn’t certain as to how or even how much time I could take.   When I had gathered a bucket full of hurts I had still not found a way to empty it.   In truth, the bucket wasn’t that heavy and had not become a real burden yet so I had a tolerable level of pain. It did have a nice handle! It also had a spigot, near the top.  It was used to release the need for jus

The mustard and the ketchup There is a taste in ketchup like no other. It can be made better or worse and the sales will match, but there is seldom a “different” ketchup, and when there is, it is of nominal consequence in sales compared to the tsunami that is the standard fare of the French fries and hotdog. Mustard though is different. It can be boutique, and tinkered with, and make a name of its own and produce sales worthy of note. So you have Dijon and in the realm of Dijon you have Grey Poupon. Then there is the spicy Guldens’ or the garlic or any form of combinations that make up a whole section in the market. But not ketchup, and the question is why? So lots of money is spent on trying to find out, and test, and research preferences. Here is what they have concluded. If you change the recipe in minor ways the taste turns to “strikingly noticeable”, that means that you notice a taste, and then grow weary of it, leading to a down turn in sales. Or you can u