Category: relationships
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Memories and milestones
(Click here for a video of John reading this Catch.) Hi, and welcome to the “John Wayne Room” of the Canyon Lodge Motel in Seligman, Arizona, “Birthplace of Route 66,” the “Mother Road” of America. Seligman (population 456) is representative of the many small towns that dot this portion of the Southwest along what used…
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God’s HR Department
(Click here for a video of John reading this Catch.) “I can say I have met the most amazing people on this planet when I have pushed the walls aside and just gotten to know people for who they are.” So writes one of our Catch members. He works in the Human Resources Department of…
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Friends forever
Here is the best news ever. The greatest truths are often the simplest and most profound, and it’s hard to get more profound than this: you and I get to be in this universe with God. Whatever happens, this is bottom line. You and I get to be in this universe with God. This transcends…
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Sent
(Click here for a video of John reading this Catch.) Jesus came and told his disciples, “I have been given all authority in heaven and on earth. Therefore, go and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit. Teach these new disciples to obey all the…
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Seeing with the eye of the Lord
(Click here for a video of John reading today’s Catch.) Today’s Catch comes from a text I received last night from my daughter, Anne, who is an ER doctor in Hawaii and an avid surfer.
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Above the Noise and Strife
(Click here for a video of John reading this Catch.) Be Thou My Vision is a 365-day devotional book I first published in 1995. It’s a devotional book based on selected lyrics from traditional known and lesser-known hymns. I wrote it on the premise that lyrics written by Christians over 100 years ago might speak…
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On the street where you live
Come take a stroll with me down the streets of the internet, the only place I know where people the world over are all your neighbors. Mr. Rogers never had it so good. Some people claim you can’t have real relationships on line. We beg to differ.
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Dirty feet
[When the Catch comes out late, it’s usually because the subject matter has been giving me trouble. It also means the version you are about to read has gone through many revisions, usually indicating earlier versions were rejected by my greatest critic, my wife, as not being sufficiently honest. With a subject like “sin” this…
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Jamaica in Chico
This was one of my most memorable Father’s Days. That comes as somewhat of a surprise because I wasn’t with my family. But I was with one of my children, so I felt like a dad. Chandler and I were in Chico, California, getting familiar with what, Lord willing, will become his home in…
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OK in Christ
As if we needed one more reason to be divided. On top of huge chasms in politics, conservative and liberal philosophies, racial divides, and the ever-widening gulf between the haves and the have-nots, we now have a generational divide fueled by a movement started on social media a couple of years ago and still resounding in…
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Light candle in your heart
And his smile will light a candle That will burn in your heart. This will be my final journaling from the road with Chandler. It has been a monumental journey with incredible encounters along the way, but yesterday’s three-hour meeting with Lambert Dolphin was most enlightening. In Lambert’s own words, “[Chandler] and I seem to…
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Loving (when it’s hard to do)
If you read our latest communique, “The Bridge to 2021,” you are aware that we had to let everyone across that bridge from 2020 into the New Year. Nothing we could do about it. Sorry about that. We had no choice. Hell’s Angels, junkies, all the convicts in jail, and who knows how many North…
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In Christ, we all belong
We’re all in this together When we reach We can fly Know inside We can make it We’re all in this together Once we see Theres a chance That we have And we take it Here at the Catch Ministry, we’ve taken a chance on virtual relationships and found out that virtual relationships are real…
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Queen Vashti loses her crown but keeps her dignity
The book of Esther opens with King Xerxes of Persia throwing himself a very big party. At that time, Xerxes ruled over an area of 127 provinces stretching from India to Ethiopia. All the princes, nobles and military leaders from all 127 provinces were there and the celebration lasted for 180 days. “For a full…
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Servant girl helps cure enemy
There is an fascinating story told in the Second book of Kings (Chapter 5) about a young Jewish girl who was taken captive by the commander of the army of the king of Aram, a neighboring country and potential enemy of the nation of Israel. The commander’s name was Naaman and the young girl lived…
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God stops oceans
I was recently standing in a restaurant take-out line for lunch. You know the scene, I’m sure. You’re standing there with a surgical mask firmly in place over your nose and mouth, and Xs on the sidewalk that show you where to stand six feet apart. Then someone comes out the door with their order…
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a sacrificial poet
This is the logo for one of the open mic’s John attends. John wants to welcome any Chicago visitors to “The Catch,” and thank them for welcoming him into their community. John Shirk is a missionary to Chicago … sort of. His actual job title is “ambassador.” Missionary is a complicated word…
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Keeping the unity of the Spirit
Make every effort to keep the unity of the Spirit through the bond of peace. There is one body and one Spirit, just as you were called to one hope when you were called; one Lord, one faith, one baptism; one God and Father of all, who is over all and through all and in all. Ephesians 4:3-6 This is a time to…
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‘Germ-free community’
Last night at Church at the Catch, we experienced what could be called a positive outcome of the current coronavirus pandemic. We had the strongest attendance we’ve had since we started holding church live on Facebook, and we had the most lively interaction. It’s almost as if we suddenly realized, “Hey, we’re a germ-free community,…
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Thank you, Neil Young
I don’t blame the people who voted for you. I support their right to express themselves, although they have been lied to, and in many cases believed the lies, they are true Americans. I have their back. – Neil Young, in an open letter to Donald Trump Contrary to what it might look like, this…