PlainSpeech Messages | Find YOUR way to GRACE.
I recently read a message I’d given in 1984 and felt a mixture of embarrassment and surprise. Embarrassed because it seems inadequate now, and surprised by how much my worldview has changed. Twenty-five years from now, I might read these messages and have a similar reaction. I offer no guarantee that my work or words will endure the eroding effects of time. I can only assure you these thoughts have been helpful to me, and perhaps a few others, today. With that qualification, I offer them to you.
~ Philip
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Epiphanies and Other Things I Question
VIEW VIDEO One of the things I admire about Joan, besides her intelligence, kindness, and beauty, is her uncanny knack for remembering dates. Sometimes, out of the blue, she’ll mention, “Today is so-and-so’s birthday,” and it will be someone we knew 30 years ago who...
Things I’ve Learned From Christmas (3)
I’ve been talking about things I’ve learned from Christmas, and you all have been so patient to indulge my musings. We began by thinking about anticipation and how the anticipation of an event is often better than the event itself. I concluded by urging you to dream...
Things I’ve Learned From Christmas (2)
VIEW VIDEO I made the mistake of reading an article about retirement several months ago that made me nervous about our finances. Neither Joan nor I have pensions, so the only thing we have for retirement is the money we’ve managed to save, and are starting to worry...
Things I’ve Learned From Christmas (1)
VIEW VIDEO I was at the dentist’s this past week, bound to the chair with thick leather straps, the dental hygienist was cleaning between my teeth with a jackhammer, and Justin Bieber came on the radio singing All I Want for Christmas Is You. And there I was, stuck,...
Is Religion a Force for Good or Evil? (10)
VIEW VIDEO It occurred to me this past week that it’s been 25 years since my first book was published and I found myself at a convention in Nashville, Tennessee signing copies of my book, alongside a man named Tim LaHaye who had written a book called Left Behind, the...
Is Religion a Force for Good or Evil? (9)
VIEW VIDEO We’ve been talking about whether religion is a force for good or evil, or both. I’ve identified some virtues of religion, but then spoke about religions failure to honor that which it claims to cherish. Our last time together I mentioned that most every...
Is Religion a Force for Good or Evil? (8)
VIEW VIDEO I was thinking about God this week, and the broad range of people God attracts--conservative, liberal, moderate, thoughtful, reckless, fanatical, and even atheists, many of whom spend a great deal of time thinking and talking about the god they don’t...
Is Religion a Force for Good or Evil? (7)
VIEW VIDEO One of the things I like most about living in a neighborhood is watching people move in and out. Some people you hate to see move away, and others you don’t. The best moment is when the moving van pulls up, and watching discretely as your new neighbors...
Is Religion a Force for Good or Evil? (6)
The Royal Theater in Danville has gotten a facelift this summer, which I was glad to see, having spent a good part of my childhood inside its storied walls watching the old Westerns, which is where I learned about justice, that the good guy always won, and the bad...
Is Religion a Force for Good or Evil? (5)
Religions are good at valuing truth, so long as it is old truth. When I was a kid, I delivered The Indianapolis News to 26 customers on the southside of Danville. It was the smallest paper route in town, due to my unwillingness to sign on new subscribers. Having only...