Author Archives: salooper57

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About salooper57

Husband, father, pastor, follower. I am a disciple of Jesus, learning how to do life from him. I read, write, walk, play a little guitar, enjoy my family.

What the World Needs Now

Posted on August 12, 2017 by salooper57

What does the world need now? Answers to that question are everywhere. One can’t amble through the morning paper or the evening news – or even the grocery store – without tripping over them. Some answers are religious and some … Continue reading →

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Just Give it a Rest, America

Posted on August 5, 2017 by salooper57

Americans are some of the most restless and least rested people in the world. They work more hours a week and more weeks a year than their European counterparts. The U. S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reports that … Continue reading →

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A Burden Too Big for People to Bear

Posted on July 29, 2017 by salooper57

How should a man respond to a beautiful woman who looks deep into his eyes and says (in the words of R&B songwriter Jazmine Sullivan), “You’re my best friend, my lover – Baby, you’re my everything. You’re everything to me: … Continue reading →

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Hard Hearts, Closed Minds, and Blind Eyes

Posted on July 22, 2017 by salooper57

If a pastor wants to start a row, he needn’t preach heresy. All he needs to do is change the color of the carpet in the church nursery or bring a drum set onto the platform. People might not notice … Continue reading →

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Better Choose Plan-A When There Is no Plan-B

Posted on July 15, 2017 by salooper57

Christian theology teaches that the church was founded by Jesus and is the world’s most important institution. Perhaps institution is not the best word, since the church is not exactly institutional; it is a movement. But it might be better … Continue reading →

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No Symptoms Doesn’t Equal No Disease

Posted on July 8, 2017 by salooper57

I recently visited the nice people at Borgess Hospital in Kalamazoo, Michigan for a coronary angiogram, with overnight accommodations, IVs, heart monitors, and blood draws as part of the all-inclusive package. How I got there is a long story, full … Continue reading →

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The Politicians Stopped Inviting Us to the Dance

Posted on July 1, 2017 by salooper57

For decades, when people spoke or wrote about the intersection of religious belief and political action, it was natural to refer to it in a kind of shorthand, “religion and politics,” with religion getting the more important seat at the … Continue reading →

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Heaven Does Not Have an EB-5 Visa Program

Posted on June 24, 2017 by salooper57

In recent weeks, many of us learned for the first time that the United States Citizenship and Immigration Services offers an employment-based visa with permanent resident status to foreigners who are willing to invest large sums of money in commercial … Continue reading →

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The Spiritual Myopia Pandemic

Posted on June 17, 2017 by salooper57

There are about 97 million myopic people in the U.S., according to the American Optometric Association. I’m one of them. I was fitted for my first pair of corrective lenses in second grade. Because my vision continued to deteriorate (and … Continue reading →

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Better Off Dead: Life Beyond the Grave

Posted on June 10, 2017 by salooper57

Death has always been hard to understand – just try explaining it to a child. How strange it is to be speaking to a person you know one minute and find them absent the next. Their body is still present … Continue reading →

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