‘Cogito ergo sum’

Posted on February 6, 2020 by jwfisch
240px-frans_hals_-_portret_van_renecc81_descartes

Rene Descartes: “I think, therefore I am.”

I ran into Chandler the other day at the Koffee Klatch — the local coffee hangout in town where I often go to write. Only this wasn’t our Chandler; it was another Chandler; actually the only other Chandler I’ve met since we named our son 20 years ago. I’ve always been surprised at that. Being that Chandler was one of the “friends” of the very popular TV show by the same name, I thought there would be a rash of Chandlers. But that hasn’t been the case.

This Chandler is a college student at Biola University headed for graduate work at Loyola Marymount University. Meeting this Chandler was like uncovering a time capsule.

Continue reading →

Posted in Millennials, Worldview | Tagged | 2 Comments

Overcoming barriers to love

Posted on February 5, 2020 by jwfisch

OIP-36

“I am the bearer of a message packed full of love for people I am afraid to be around.” – John Fischer

I chanced upon this sentence of mine reading a review of my latest book, Confessions of a Caffeinated Christian: Wide Awake and Not Alone. As a published writer, I am well aware of stumbling onto something I have written that shows me I had a hold of something beyond my ability to fully grasp — something that can hit me years later right between the eyes. “Did I say that?”

Continue reading →

Posted in God's love, relationships | Tagged , , | 2 Comments

What does Grace Turned Outward mean?

Posted on February 4, 2020 by jwfisch

th-21

We’ve been forgiven, so we forgive.

We’ve been loved, so we love.

We’ve been freely accepted, so we accept others freely.

We’ve been given mercy, so we are merciful.

We have escaped judgment, so we do not judge.

We’ve been welcomed in, so we welcome all.

The door was opened for us, so we left it open to others.

We are different people from what we were;

We are Grace Turned Outward.

Except that we don’t always forgive; we don’t always love; we don’t always accept others freely; we aren’t always merciful; we often judge; we are not always welcoming; and we sometimes close the door behind us because we don’t want to let just anybody in. What I have created in this list is the ideal — the perfect. We can’t pull off any of this on our own without the Holy Spirit. It is the Holy Spirit that changes our hearts and overcomes in us, the tendency we have in ourselves to manifest the opposite of these attitudes.

Continue reading →

Posted in grace turned outward, Uncategorized | Tagged | 2 Comments

An army of Grace Turned Outward

Posted on February 3, 2020 by jwfisch

OIP-34

We’ve been talking a lot about MemberPartners lately. That’s because our MemberPartners are the key to the Catch Ministry. They are the ones who believe in our vision — Introducing the Gospel of Welcome — Grace Turned Outward — to Everyone, Everywhere — and are committed to making it happen by any way and any means. They believe it can be done. They are not afraid to think big, to be imaginative, and to take risks.

Continue reading →

Posted in giving, God's love, grace, grace turned outward | Tagged , , | 1 Comment

Nailed

Posted on January 31, 2020 by jwfisch

This is it. We are down to our last day for Mike’s $500 Match. Thanks to David and Robert who increased their amounts yesterday, we are now only $165 away from monthly pledges that will guarantee the Catch an increase of $1,000 a month sustainable income. Help take us over the top today. Join these MemberPartners who have joined up or increased their monthly commitment. A little bit goes a long way here!

See below for how to finish this!

golgotha

Golgatha today. Can you find the cross in this picture?

You were dead because of your sins and because your sinful nature was not yet cut away. Then God made you alive with Christ, for he forgave all our sins. He canceled the record of the charges against us and took it away by nailing it to the cross. Colossians 2:13-14

I want to thank Drew for his comments about my coverage of Kobe Bryant’s passing. He was wishing my Catch yesterday had gotten the social media coverage that a certain reporter from the Washington Post received for her tweet reminding the world about Kobe’s rape allegation charges in 2003 involving a hotel worker in Denver. Though charges were never filed and the alleged victim settled out of court, it was certainly a black mark on Kobe’s record and came very close to costing him his marriage. Yet his strong commitment to the community and obvious love for his wife and daughters have overshadowed that dark time in his life.

Continue reading →

Posted in forgiveness | Tagged , | 4 Comments

‘The usual, Kobe?’

Posted on January 30, 2020 by jwfisch

Kudos to the following MemberPartners who have taken part in our Match so far! Check out below. Only $225 to go!

Lynn, Pendleton, Oregon; Rebekah, Santa Ana, California; Paul, Wayne, Pennsylvania; Paul; John; Darin, Cozad, Nebraska; Daryl; Roger, Whittier, California; Terri, Reedley, California

Kobe in class.

It seems like each day, from an article here or a news report there, we find out more about this man named Kobe Bryant — who he was and what made him tick. In a local paper today, we find out he lived in Newport Beach and was a regular at many of the local businesses. There they know him not as a basketball star but as a neighbor. They know him at the supermarket where he shops about every two or three weeks; they know him at Starbucks; they know him at Coffee Bean & Tea Leaf (“The usual, Kobe?”); they know him at Vanguard University where he led a practice with Gianna’s basketball team two or three times a week; they know him at the Harbor Day School in Corona del Mar where he would pick up Gianna after school; and they know him at Our Lady Queen of Angels Catholic Church where he attended 7 a.m. mass on the morning he would later board a helicopter for that fateful ride.

Continue reading →

Posted in Uncategorized | 3 Comments

Bringing in the Christmas tree

Posted on January 29, 2020 by jwfisch
Mack-Pinnacle-hauling-Capitol-Christmas-tree

Well, maybe not quite this big …

Inquiring minds want to know. If it took cutting up my dry Christmas tree with a chainsaw to get it out of the house, how did I get it in? Enough people asked me the question to indicate there were most likely many more of you who thought it. So I figured it deserved an answer. It’s a simple answer, really. It took two guys from the Christmas tree lot that delivered it to carry it in. True, I could have waited until Chandler was available to help me carry it out, but pulling a flexible, fresh-cut tree through a door jamb is different from pulling through a dry, brittle, scratchy one. 

Continue reading →

Posted in Christmas, family, walk by faith | Tagged , | 1 Comment

9 boxes

Posted on January 28, 2020 by jwfisch

Christmas 2019

Well, Christmas 2019 is finally history at the Fischer household. Christmas 2019 is now closed up tightly in boxes on our front porch. Nine boxes, to be exact. Hard to believe all that beauty and all those memories can scrunch down into 9 boxes and sit there so quietly … secretly … carefully concealing everything inside for the next 11 months.

Christmas was especially hard to take down this time both physically and emotionally. Marti said she had compassion on me for the first time, not realizing what a job it was. Of course I’m trying to be tough and eschew any sympathy coming my way. But I was hurting. Up, down, up, down, up, down. We have a tradition of getting a big tree because we have the ceiling for it, and that means up and down a ladder many times to get the ornaments down and unstring the lights. And then, the tree’s so big I have to use an electric chain saw to cut it up into pieces so I can get it out of the house.

Continue reading →

Posted in Christmas, walk by faith | Tagged | 3 Comments

When eternity breaks in on us

Posted on January 27, 2020 by jwfisch
Kobe-Bryant-and-daughter-Gianna-Bryant-died-in-helicopter-crash

Kobe and Gianna

It’s impossible to live near L.A. as someone who writes every day, and not write something about Kobe Bryant this morning. You would have to be an alien who just landed on this planet to not know what went on 24 hours ago here and is dominating almost everyone’s mind. A helicopter crashed into the side of a mountain about two hours from here yesterday morning with L.A. Lakers basketball great Kobe Bryant, his daughter, Gianna, and seven others in it. No one survived. They were on their way to a basketball game in which Gianna was to play and Kobe was to coach. Gianna shared her father’s love for basketball and had aspirations of being a professional star like her father someday.

Continue reading →

Posted in Facing death, family, Meaning of life, parenting, sports, walk by faith | Tagged , , | 4 Comments

What does your worldview do for the world?

Posted on January 24, 2020 by jwfisch

th4

Yes, I try to find common ground with everyone, doing everything I can to save some. (1 Corinthians 9:22 NLT)

Worldview is critical to our thinking if we want to reach everyone, everywhere with the gospel of welcome — grace turned outward. So it’s important that we check in from time to time on how we are doing with our own personal worldview. The worldview most commonly associated with Christians today does not serve our vision, so we have to be smart.

Continue reading →

Posted in Christianity and politics, Religious freedom, Worldview | Tagged | 4 Comments