Jim Taylor's Columns - 'Soft Edges' and 'Sharp Edges'

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29

Mar

2022

Getting a grasp of my own ego

Author: Jim Taylor

Thursday February 17, 2022

 

From my office chair, I can look up and see a an eight-foot shelf filled with books I helped to publish. I recognize every title. I know every author. I remember delving into every subject. 

            I had a hand – or at least a pencil – in every one of those books. 

            And then, abruptly, the authors, the subjects, the textual content, are all strangers. They’re still good books. Still worth reading. But they’re not mine anymore. 

            In serious discussions of faith and doctrine, a friend frequently ventures something like: “I’m not sure that I know what I’m talking about, but isn’t this all about ego somehow?”

            Yes it is. It’s almost always about ego.


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Categories: Soft Edges

Tags: God, books, ego

29

Mar

2022

Giving God a name

Author: Jim Taylor

Thursday March 10, 2022

 

The “Golden Guys” meet on Mondays. Mostly, we talk about what it feels like to grow older. 

            On a recent Zoom call, we talked about how our lives have changed. 

            There were six of us:

·      One university professor, no longer teaching any students.

·      One high-school principal, no longer administering anything.

·      One orchardist, no longer tending trees.

·      One business executive, no longer running any business.

·      One minister, no longer offering leadership in any kind of pastorate.

·      And me, the only one of us still doing what I had done most of my life – writing – although at a significantly reduced level.

            We all wondered who we were, now that age and circumstance decreed that we could no longer be what we used to be. 


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12

Mar

2022

Giving God a name

Author: Jim Taylor

Thursday February 17, 2022

 

The “Golden Guys” meet on Mondays. Mostly, we talk about what it feels like to grow older. On a recent Zoom call, we talked about how our lives have changed. There were six of us:

·      One university professor, no longer teaching any students.

·      One high-school principal, no longer administering anything.

·      One orchardist, no longer tending trees.

·      One business executive, no longer running any business.

·      One minister, no longer offering leadership in any kind of pastorate.

·      And me, the only one of us still doing what I had done most of my life – writing – although at a significantly reduced level.


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Categories: Soft Edges

Tags: God, Moses, Exodus, YHWH, Yahweh, names

6

Mar

2022

If shunning doesn’t work, why do we keep doing it?

Author: Jim Taylor

Sunday March 6, 2022

 

The last two weeks, I’ve tried to keep up with the changing scene in Ukraine, and our reactions to it. First, Russian forces were merely threatening to invade Ukraine. Then they invaded, but ostensibly to enable two eastern regions to breakaway from the rest of Ukraine. Then they clearly invaded all of Ukraine, from the north, east and south. 

            I’m shocked. Appalled. Disgusted with Vladimir Putin. 

            Let me be clear -- I am 100% opposed to the Russian invasion. 

            I’m less confident about the effectiveness of the western deterrents. 


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6

Mar

2022

Dear Mr. Prime: about those robocalls

Author: Jim Taylor

Thursday March 3, 2022

 

Dear Mr. Amazon Prime,

            Thank you so much for looking after the best interests of your customers. The other morning, before I was even out of bed, one of your Customer Service Representatives called to inform me that they had detected suspicious activity on one of my credit cards. 

            Someone in Dayton Ohio had used my credit card to make a purchase of $197.33.

            I asked her to wait a minute, while I checked my wallet. Both of my credit cards were safely there. But when I got back to the phone, she had hung up on me.

            That wasn’t very courteous of her. 

 

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