Jim Mulholland-I get irritated when sports figures accomplish some great feat - scoring a winning touchdown, or pitching a no hitter, or sinking a game winning basket – and then say, "I give all the glory to God." Those words are like fingernails on a blackboard to me. I always cringe.

Philip Gulley-Know a man who bought a big, old house that had fallen into disrepair.  He wanted to fix it up and live there.  It was a huge house, its problems were extensive, and after a few months of work it became clear he had underestimated the complexity of the project and overestimated his ability to fix it.  Last week, when I said I would be answering the question "Who is God?" today, it seems I underestimated the complexity of the question and overestimated my ability to answer it.  Nevertheless, I am a tilter at windmills, a man with more enthusiasm than sense, so I forge ahead.

Philip Gulley-I watched the debate Thursday night with my family.   Times aren't too good in our country right now, and we know that because the politicians are no longer concerning themselves with religion.  I don't believe I heard the word God mentioned even once.  This probably was a vast relief to God, who often gets talked about, but is seldom given ninety seconds to respond.

Philip Gulley-Joan and I rode our bicycles to the Dairy Queen last week.  In our family we have to earn our ice cream by pedaling a mile uphill.  So we were up there eating our ice cream cones and a teenage boy sat next to me on the long bench and we began to talk.  His mannerisms, facial expressions, and even the tone of his voice, were familiar to me, but I couldn’t place him, and was too embarrassed to ask his name.  Then his mother approached and I remembered who he was, the nephew of my best friend growing up, Tim.  Tim died in 1981, but his nephew had many of the same qualities, which is why he seemed familiar.  It was an odd experience, like having my best friend back for a moment.

Jim Mulholland-I've been studying mental illness this past week and I'm worried.  I thought I was mentally healthy, but now I'm not so certain.  I have a lot of the symptoms I've been reading about.

Jim Mulholland-I was taught from an early age to love my enemies and to pray for those who persecuted me.  That wasn't a popular lesson for the teachers or the students.  When you have an enemy, you don't want to love them.  You want to eliminate them.  But we didn't have much choice.  Jesus commanded it.  We had to do it, whether we liked it or not.

Philip Gulley-Our nation's leaders gathered Thursday evening at the White House to rescue the nation from economic peril.  I wasn't invited, so instead went to the Olive Garden in Avon to help Gene Carter celebrate his birthday.  Then I came home and went for a walk around the block.  It was dark, and the stars were out.  I could see the Big Dipper and the North Star, Polaris, which is 430 light years away, which means I was seeing it as it was in 1578, long before the world had ever heard of sub-prime mortgages.  The future astronomer, Galileo, was 14 years old.  Galileo would grow up to inform us the Earth was not the fixed center of the universe.  For that radical heresy, the Roman Catholic Church, which considered itself and the Earth the center of the universe, placed him under house arrest, where he spent the remainder of his life writing one of his finest books, Two New Sciences, which effectively launched the field of physics.  But the light from the star Polaris predates all of that.

Philip Gulley-Last week, our neighbors had their annual hog roast and our family went, as has been our custom since we first moved to Danville.  The neighbors have a camper.  A rite of passage for the teenage boys was to spend the night of the hog roast in the camper, so this year we told Spencer he could do that.  When Spencer came home the next morning, I asked him what they'd done.  He said they talked around the campfire until midnight then did a few more things, went to sleep, then woke up around eight o'clock.  It was the phrase, “then did a few more things,” that caught my attention, because I’ve learned the activities that don't get elaborated upon are the most interesting.  I'm still trying to figure out the few more things they did.

Jim Mulholland-Sometimes I love open worship and sometimes I despise it. This past Sunday was the latter. A group of us were sitting in worship at Fairfield Meeting. Phil had greeted us at the door. People had been warm and welcoming. The sermon had been funny and insightful. It had been a pleasant morning.

Jim Mulholland-Last week, our family gathered in Michigan for the annual Mulholland reunion.  It’s a week of canoeing, swimming at the beach, playing cards, sitting around the campfire, eating too much food and reminiscing.  I've attended the reunion 43 times in my 47 years.  When I drive through the tunnel of trees leading to our cabins, it's entering a cathedral.  I get the shivers.  I feel religious.