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.

Abandoning the stained-glass messiah

Posted on April 5, 2014 by salooper57

Vacations sometimes go wrong. One summer my family went to a remote lake in Northwestern Ontario, where we planned to fish for a week. When we arrived, we realized that no one had remembered to pack the fishing rods! But … Continue reading →

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The ideas that direct our lives

Posted on March 29, 2014 by salooper57

Ideas are shared assumptions about how life works. They are too imprecise to be defined exactly and their course through the history of thought is too uncertain to predict or control. But they are powerful. Ideas direct our lives, though … Continue reading →

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Hope for those who lack the “religion gene”

Posted on March 25, 2014 by salooper57

The look on his face was classic. It registered surprise and a touch of indignation, which was a little humorous. We were sitting across the table from each other and he had just told me that he “wasn’t religious.” Since … Continue reading →

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New Music Posted

Posted on March 24, 2014 by salooper57

Check out the Music page for a song I’ve written: He Is Able. It was performed at Lockwood Church’s Now Playing talent show, a fundraiser for the Youth Mission Trip to Tijuana, Mexico. Thanks to Kevin Looper, Marv Robertson and … Continue reading →

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A dignity too great for words

Posted on March 15, 2014 by salooper57

Last summer a friend invited me to golf with him on one of the nicest courses around. He was hoping to introduce a friend of his, who was in our area to lead a weekend seminar at a large church … Continue reading →

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What are people around the world looking for?

Posted on March 8, 2014 by salooper57

The news is not all bad. Yes, we keep hearing that the percentage of people in the United States who believe in God is shrinking. And, according to census data, the number of people who self-describe as having “no religion” … Continue reading →

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Don’t Use Distractions to Self-Medicate

Posted on March 1, 2014 by salooper57

The author (physician, producer, director) Michael Crichton has written, “Today, everybody expects to be entertained, and they expect to be entertained all the time … In other centuries, human beings wanted to be saved, or improved, or freed, or educated. … Continue reading →

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Think christianly

Posted on February 22, 2014 by salooper57

Christianity has always been a thinking person’s faith, but is there a way for a person to “think christianly” (to borrow a phrase from the literary critic Harry Blamires)? Does one think christianly only when pondering religious or theological issues … Continue reading →

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Don’t be an intellectual slacker

Posted on February 15, 2014 by salooper57

In Some Notes on Reading, Annie Dillard tells of visiting the Beijing Library with her interpreter Song Hua. Beijing Library was then home to over 11 million books and only 200 chairs. Yet, Song Hua explained, only on rare occasions … Continue reading →

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Unrequited love: the St. Valentine’s Day tragedy

Posted on February 8, 2014 by salooper57

A friend and I once met a couple of Muslim acquaintances at a restaurant. We had arranged the meeting as a chance to get to know one another and to talk about our faith commitments. In the course of the … Continue reading →

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