In the last 24 hours, I have had deep conversations with 5 different people, and intriguing online interactions with 3 more. Deeply grateful.
Not that anyone asked, or that I have any qualifications to make such decisions, but if I were the Newberg High track coach, I would put Maddie and MK in the 400, Emily [...]

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They were doing it again, chugging down the same track they had a thousand times before. Not really a train track… more like the track worn in their avocado green shag carpet, the path beaten down between the bedroom and the couch in the living room. Flattened by repeated use.
He had opened the first salvo, [...]

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Last night, Clint Baldwin invited me to be on a panel at the Peace & Justice Symposium that the Peace Center puts on once a month at George Fox University. I had one of those moments during the Q&A afterward where I heard words coming out of my mouth that actually were pretty good!
“What do [...]

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I can’t help but notice…
Amidst the failure of Lehman brothers, the Merrill Lynch buyout, AIG danger, Bear Stearns; right at the root, here is the common denominator:
The financial titans on Wall Street put all their eggs into a basket of mortgaged-back securities and other complex derivatives that depend on home interest payments for [...]

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Hey there, hi there, and ho there! I haven’t forgotten this blog, it just looks like I have. Our church has experienced a corporate fast, we’ve been preparing for vacation, I’ve been exploring writing a dialogue with an agnostic friend of mine, and the blog has been sadly neglected.
Daughter numero uno hit catorce a [...]

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Well, gang, I did real good there for awhile, didn’t I? The commitment to Barclay Press helped me blog more, and it carried over for a good 2 or 3 days. It’s tough finding time to blog.
A week ago Sunday, I had an interesting experience preparing for worship. On Friday, my leading was to deviate [...]

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Well, with the death of my computer and a heavy work load, the blog has suffered recently. Right now I’m with our team of pastors and other staff at the coast for our annual retreat. It’s been good for us to laugh and cry and get to know each other more deeply, good to sing [...]

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Thoughts I’ve had recently that I wish I had NOT acted on:
1. “I should go get some MORE ice cream.”
2. “I know I’m tired, but I should relax a little. Hey, is that Frasier on tv?”
But mostly:
“These are really good instructions. I think I could swap out my laptop hard drive myself.”

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I’ve been thinking about masculinity and femininity lately, how they relate and don’t relate to personhood, how they relate and don’t relate to sexuality, and wondering why in Christian circles there seems to be a sharp upswing in the need to prescribe and define more strict gender roles than I am comfortable with.
I’m wondering how [...]

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Happy birthday love!

Originally uploaded by gkoskela.

Happy birthday, love!

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