John Fischer The Catch

‘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 Christmas, faith | 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 Christmas | 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 death, family, parenting | 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 Christian worldview | 4 Comments

The miracle of forgiveness

Posted on January 23, 2020 by jwfisch

Catch MemberPartner, Robert, from Seattle, shared with us a “sore thumb” story about forgiveness. The story was featured on TV, so it reached a large number of people and makes a statement that no sermon could ever equal. And even though it took place 14 years ago, the story is still playing on the internet. Indeed, it’s a story that’s living on and teaching still today, and here we are about to learn from it.

Continue reading →

Posted in Friendship, grace, grace turned outward | Tagged forgiveness, Friendship | 6 Comments

Sticking out like a sore thumb

Posted on January 22, 2020 by jwfisch

OIP-28 How does it feel to be a sore thumb? Notice I said to be a sore thumb? We’ve all had a sore thumb before but I’m talking about being one.

If you care for the hurting, the hungry and the homeless, you will stick out. If you care for the immigrant, you will stick out. If you defend the defenseless, you will stick out. Whatever political side you are on, if you reach out to the other side, you will stick out. If you refuse to take part in racial slurs or ethnic jokes, you will stick out. If you find something good to say about people others perceive as bad, you will stick out. If someone tries to take the shirt off your back and you give them your coat, too, you will stick out. If you come down on the side of mercy for people who deserve punishment, you will stick out. If you give people a second chance, you will stick out. If someone forces you to go one mile and you go two, you will stick out. If you try to understand those who are different from you, you will stick out. If you do something nice for your enemy, you will stick out. If you pray for those who are against you, you will stick out. If you turn the other cheek, you will stick out.

Continue reading →

Posted in Christianity and politics, grace turned outward | 4 Comments

Sinners “R” them (or us?)

Posted on January 17, 2020 by jwfisch

OIP-25

This has been a tough week for me. I’ve been trying to grasp and write about mercy but it’s been alluding me. Twice I’ve had to abandon my first attempt at a Catch because it didn’t get by my first critic — my wife — sending me writing well into the afternoon, which I can’t afford the time to do. I think I may have to admit I’m far more of a Pharisee than I thought. My book 12 Steps for the Recovering Pharisee (like me) comes to mind. We had to add “like me” to the title to announce a personal connection with this struggle. Once a drunk, always a drunk, they say, you just stop drinking. So, once a Pharisee, always a Pharisee, you just stop judging and separating yourself from sinners.

Continue reading →