My first job after turning sixteen was at Fuedo’s, a south Texas family grocer. I worked there part-time during high school as a sacker, checker, and assistant manager. The pay was just above minimum wage yet provided spending money for my teenage years. The experience also taught me life skills in …
Winging It
When I was in high school, I didn’t study much. I did my homework assignments and studied for the more difficult exams such as chemistry and physics. In my humanity courses, I relied upon memory and generally winged it. My goal was simply to get into college and enjoy life. Embarrassment drove me …
Spiritual and Secular Charisms
The word theology comes from the Greek word theologia which is a composition of the Greek words theos (God) and logos (speech). A theologian is a person who speaks about God. I was fortunate to be taught by several outstanding theologians when I was in seminary. In my first theology class, my …
Recovery
2021 should be named ‘The Year of Recovery.’ For some people, it may not be a recovery year, but for me, the name makes sense. 2020 was a annus horribilis (horrible year). The pandemic struck early and caused death and suffering. The Black Lives Matter movement erupted after the violent death of …
Summons to a Whole People
Most of my life has been partitioned into secular and sacred activities. I made this distinction without ever performing any theological research into why this division exists. I was born into family (secular) and most Sundays went to church (sacred). I later became a student (secular) and played …
Discernment
There have been several times in my life when I felt God calling me. These moments were not the direct, undeniable encounters experienced by Moses and the Apostle Paul. There were no burning bushes or blinding lights. My heart never had the ‘strangely warmed’ feeling that John Wesley experienced on …
Business as a Calling
I started out working in engineering, but my passion was business. During my college senior year, I took an elective course in economic evaluations and investment decision making taught by Dr. Frank Stermole, Professor Emeritus of Mineral Economics at Colorado School of Mines. Dr. Stermole also …
Called by God
I have never experienced an undeniable encounter with God. I was raised in the church and always believed, yet do not remember the moment when I accepted God’s call to faith in Jesus Christ. I did not formally state my faith until seventh grade confirmation when I wrote a simple belief statement and …
Passion
My first job after graduating from university was with Exxon Corporation. I accepted a reservoir engineering position during my senior year and after graduation, I drove to Los Angeles and began working. I lived in a small Santa Monica apartment a few miles from Exxon’s Century City production …
Finite versus Infinite
Since late February, I have been healing from a radial meniscus tear in my left knee. It happened during a slow return to running while healing from sciatica in my right leg. I spent countless hours doing exercises, at home and in the gym, to strengthen my leg muscles around my knee and improve …