Retail Wonder of the World

I tend to avoid malls between “Black Friday” and January 1.  I dislike pushy crowds of individuals, all pushing through the mass pursing their own agenda – it’s overwhelmingly stressful.  For some reason, however, I thought it would be a good idea to head to Cherry Hill Mall on “Boxing Day” to see if I…

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Welcome to my domain

Over the last few months I’ve been contemplating acquiring a domain name for Painfully Hopeful.  This morning I finally pulled the trigger and purchased a domain which, I feel, captures the ethos of what I post here.  So, welcome to painfullyhopeful.me!  Come, gaze at the irony.

Pleasantly Disrupted

I remember watching the initial iPad announcement and thinking, “Well, it’s kinda cool, but underwhelming.” It didn’t have a camera, and it really looked like nothing more than a big iPod Touch. As I already had an iPhone, I saw no need for “another device.” Then my neighbor got one to be his “take along…

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Privileged

Yesterday, at ABCNJ’s staff party, we all went around a circle sharing some of our thoughts on our experiences the previous year. Folks joked that I didn’t use a projector to share my thoughts, so I turned them into comic strip characters. I don’t enjoy making people feeling overwhelmed as they wrestle with a new…

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Journey theme

I love the metaphor of a “spiritual journey.”  We move from one place – be it physical, spiritual, or a combination of the two – and wind up somewhere else entirely.  This sense of journey is present in a good many pastors (and other Christians) who come into a church and quickly discover that they…

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