An old Muddy Waters blues lyric says it like this: Well I'm goin' away to leave, Won't be back no more, Goin' back down south, child, Don't you want to go? Woman I'm troubled, I be all worried in mind Well baby I just can't be satisfied, And I just can't keep from cryin' Well I feel like snappin', Pistol in your face I'm gonna let some graveyard, Lord be your resting place Woman I'm troubled, I be all worried in mind, Well baby I can never be satisfied, And I just can't keep

If you're not willing to think deeply, skip this short piece or come back later when you are. It is deep and profound because of two such quotes from a wise and deeply committed follower of Jesus. The very word "theology" worries, frets and sometimes gets discarded by atheists, agnostics and professing Christians alike. Why? Of course it's easy and not altogether without reason to point at the whacked/extreme "Christians" in history, the leaders and congregations that brought

Do NOT mistake information with transformation . Plenty of people in the churches focus on the first and in terms of reflecting Jesus Christ in their lives are severely lacking in the second. Even a computer fully disconnected from the internet can offer loads of information (re. what was put into it) but never human-to-God or human-to-human relationship . The information God gives us in His Word is there that we might experience RELATIONSHIP with Him and right relationships

Yep, we all have 'em! No doubt about it and in essence nothing wrong with it. Until and unless... What does God Himself prefer? Hmmm... that's the issue for a serious follower of Jesus. History is clear, from the beginning until now individual professing Christians and entire churches and streams of them have split over various questions of theology, doctrine and practice. Nothing new about this as sad and to some, confusing as it seems. Some are so narrow they form their own

I've been creating, making, building all sorts of things for many years -and have been humbled countless times by my own ignorance and what is often referred to as "design flaws" in what I've made. Nothing new about that as one can read from time to time about yet another building falling due to structural issues and very often sourced by architectural design blunders. Such not only causes building damage but often also affecting adjacent houses, etc., and of course human cas

For some the concept of "being like Jesus" can seem distant, cloudy, hard to really figure. Here's a super-brief bit of help for both you and me! Has God been faithful to you? Be faithful to Him -and others . Has "God so loved the world" including you? Love Him -and all others in the world . Has the Lord been patient with you? B e patient with His response to your prayers - and patient with others . Has Jesus suffered and laid down His life to give you the forgiveness of God

I've spoken and taught on elements of music and ministry for many years -but also on the wider arts. In fact one of my older blogs focuses entirely on the Arts: https://gkarts.wordpress.com So in my personal You Tube channel I've focused on cigarbox and found-object guitars I've built over time, then decided I'll add a few other things regarding creativity now and then. This interview is one with a good and gracious friend who is quite a talent as well as brother in the Lord.

The reality of tribalism is both important and essential. We were not created to live alone, fully unto ourselves. Community is more than a buzzword and in the end if one misses the layered blessings of true friends found in close fellowship one has a lonely and often despairing life -wanting to be seen and heard and routinely feeling truly left out. Oh there are pains involved in every (yes!) relationship no matter how kind, gracious, collegial they may be -yet the great wor

I read and hear about "people of faith" all the time but if by it we mean belief there is some sort of deity -according to the full Bible and Jesus' own words and dealings in the four Gospels, the devil and demons have that faith- and are still evil and are headed for a very bad end indeed. Short add and then on to the key points- faith in people isn't faith in God. Looking to humans for our ultimate help and well-being can in the end, even truly amount to idolatry. Importan

I would normally put this bit of poetry in my Prayer Prose blog here in Wix, but today... And as always, thanks for stopping by! -Glenn HILLS AND TRAILS -glenn kaiser perhaps it's "coming of age" perhaps it comes - with - age maybe only lately in my dreams angles of life's many woven seams been thinking of the many hills I've climbed considering what I found and now find only on occasion in the past yet nightly spritely pictures seem to last myriad climbs in places I have bee

If you are accused (guilty or not) would you rather be held hard to law or given grace? Consider that deeply please. We've all been and sometimes are guilty, sometimes not, sometimes this percentage one way, that percentage the other and so on. So shall we for ourselves desire to be treated with law or grace? If given a choice, which one do you choose? I believe the answer to the core question is one of those many both/and's. Why? Because if one thinks about the various Chris

It's no mystery that every person on the planet to one degree or another influences someone or several people with whom they come in contact. Further, it seems to me all of us would like to be influencers... but therein lies both the responsibility and the potential of great harm. "The deceitfulness of riches" is one of the major phrases that come to mind if any of us at core seeks influence for financial gain/power and in the process neglects respect for people and for God.

I submit to you fear and greed are two of the most insidious elements gasping for breath against God's genuine love -both toward us as individuals and with respect to how we treat others we are commanded by Jesus to love. I believe this to be true outside of and within the church. We fear sacrifice, pain, debilitating illness. We fear people we don't know, those who don't look like we do, of a different color or perhaps from a different country. Sometimes it's simply the way

Most of my readers know what doomscrolling is. There is no end to contemplating negative, bad, even devastating horrorS going on whether locally, nationally or in the big world. And these are at base "nothing new under the sun" since Adam and Eve listened to a snake more than to God. So much for Eden. Meanwhile there are not only a myriad of experienced-based realities but scientific studies that deal with depression, anxiety and the increase of these among humans throughout

Over my lifetime I've thought a great deal about love. First, trying to figure if it even existed/exists for me. Jesus made Himself known to me just prior to my 18th birthday and it's been a journey walking with Him and discovering what love is about ever since. Yet many people even after many years are still lost in the dark without understanding, misunderstanding what love really is, really looks like, how it comes to us and how to receive it. Hopefully this post (which of

Search deep and long in human history and you find profit motive as one of the most driving forces in the human race. Cost-benefit is so deeply ingrained in us that I'd argue we make most of our decisions on this constant -though little considered point. I mean, why put so much effort into anything that doesn't directly benefit us, get our endorphins rushing to bloom and negative cortisol squelched, right? Except I'd further argue that the God of the Bible takes the long (he

The title of this little post simply refers to being truly honest in -how- we study any topic including Bible, political or you-name-it. A friend recently posted in my Facebook, stirred up a little flak (like, I never do? HA!) and eventually emailed me an apology for doing so. My first reply was that I know his heart- which I think I do after several years of back-and-forth on various issues. He sent a list of go-to sources to me via email. Here was my follow up reply to him

There is what Protestants want to criticize as Rome, there is the "Rome" in all our hearts and there is the New Testament and many professing Christian's cries for unity. Here are my thoughts on several aspects of these 3 things. First I'll say I've never to this very day been in 100% in agreement, lockstep with ANY local, denominational or stream of church's doctrine or theology. For more than half a century of walking with Jesus, scripture and a vast and wide assortment of

This morning I sat in the car warming it for 3 family members needing my "free taxi services" heh... and enjoyed my coffee with lite, gentle flurries wafting down here in Chicago. I'm sorry for the craziness and even dangers of a blizzard now happening in PA and NY, prayers up for my friends out East! But my simple point is simple pleasures like the couple I mentioned, hot water for a shower I'll take in an hour after other errands are finished, the warm smile of my beautiful

I think there's nothing wrong about having favorite and not-so-fave artists in ANY genre including music. I mean, we all do, right?! This or that musician or band is my cup of tea and this other one is sludge in my view... yep. I think it important to remember that taste and style are at the same time personal as well as technical, that each of us has a unique brain, emotions and self-and-societal (sometimes peer group) biases. These all build up to "I LOVE This!" all the way