hlesbrown – Page 28 – Faith Seeking Understanding

About hlesbrown

H. Les Brown is a man of many talents who has worn many hats in his lifetime. He boasts MAs in both philosophy and theology and years of service in the ministry, industry, data processing, life coaching, project management, and even a stint at Headquarters Marine Corps. As a life coach, he had a series of articles published in Worldwide Coaching Magazine. He self-published The Frazzled Entrepreneur’s Guide to Having it All, a self-help book for over-extended entrepreneurs. He enjoys desert hiking, working out, the creative arts, and a has passion for language. He’s up before dawn for morning meditation. He lives with Craig Gibson, his husband of twenty-five years, in a restored midcentury modern home in Palm Springs, California.

I’m in with the In-Crowd

Posted on December 12, 2015 by hlesbrown

It’s said that the first thing we do when we enter a strange social environment is to try to figure out where we fit in. We attempt to join with our fellows based on shared characteristics. We try to establish commonalities of status, class, backgrounds, experiences and goals. Starting from a feeling (really a conviction) of being an outsider, we want to bridge the distance that we experience between ourselves and others in any way we can. We desire to be included. We want to be accepted among those singing: I’m in with the in crowd I go where the in Continue Reading →

Bang! Bang! You’re Dead!

Posted on December 11, 2015 by hlesbrown

What do you think? Should a believer own a gun? I guess that ultimately depends on what kind of god that person believes in, doesn’t it. “By their fruits you shall know them.”1 For what purpose do people own guns? “For sport,” some would say. Ok. Would that be target practice? Learning to hit a target with precision? Training one’s eye-hand coordination and gaining effective muscle memory? Sure; why not? However, doesn’t that actually beg the question? People don’t practice the piano to train their minds and muscles; they do so to play music. Why, then, do people spend time, Continue Reading →

“God’ll Get You For That!”

Posted on December 10, 2015 by hlesbrown

You’d better watch out You’d better not cry You’d better not pout I’m telling you why Santa Claus is coming to town He’s making a list Checking it twice Gonna find out who’s naughty or nice Santa Claus is coming to town He sees you when you’re sleeping He knows when you’re awake He knows if you’ve been bad or good So be good for goodness sake You’d better watch out You’d better not cry You’d better not pout I’m telling you why Santa Claus is coming to town1 Santa has a little list to weed out the naughty from Continue Reading →

My Thoughts Are Not Your Thoughts

Posted on December 8, 2015 by hlesbrown

How perverse we humans are! In our “sophisticated” age of science and technology we gladly allow ourselves to be made fools of by the ancients who, in so very many ways, understood much more than we do. After all, they lacked all the layers of “sophistication” that we so easily and glibly use to mask and obscure the clarity of what they saw with their “unsophisticated” hearts. We seemingly deliberately “scientize” their writings in a valiant — and effective — effort to obscure their meaning, fulfilling the words of Isaiah: He said, “Go, and tell this people: ‘Keep on listening, Continue Reading →

A Voice Criying In the Desert Make Straight the Way

Posted on December 8, 2015 by hlesbrown

As I write this, I’ve been living in the desert now for over 8 months. Yes, we have pretty houses and gardens and swimming pools and everything; but it’s still the desert. After these 8 months (I’ve been through a summer and I now consider myself a “desert rat”) I can honestly say that “I get it.” Right now, I’ve been away from it for a few days and I long to be back to what is now “home.” I miss the parched, dusty earth that you can let pour through your fingers like water. I miss the scraggly creosote Continue Reading →