Welcome to my new blog - Oasis of Reconciliation

Welcome to my new blog – Oasis of Reconciliation.
In 2004 I moved to Dayton, Ohio to work at Wright-Patterson AFB as a chaplain. At a staff team-building workshop soon after I arrived, one of the exercises directed us to come up with a concept to represent our ministry. Mine worked out to be “Oasis of Reconciliation.” I then, in chapel services, used three Bible passages to preach nine sermons about reconciliation. After the sermon series I deployed to Balad Air Base, Iraq and served as the hospital chaplain. In the back of my mind in 2005, I knew I wanted to set up a web site. 
Now after almost three years on Facebook I am taking “Oasis of Reconciliation” to a blog. I know this is a baby step in a time when for many Facebook, with its 1 Billion friends (1/7 of the world), has drawn the attention away from blogs. I will remix past efforts of writing and work on new material. I have been preaching for over 40 years and still find new material in the ancient book, the Bible, in my life every day. So, yes, I know blogging is not preaching, but I still hope to get readers to think and reflect on their lives and choices. For some it will be to get them to disengage from auto-pilot, and for others it may be to reset a default set long ago. Those are the tech terms for living in a rut. A rut, as the old saying goes, is a coffin with both ends kicked out.
My goal will be one posting each week with a connection to the topic of reconciliation. I will have other postings on topics of interest such as movies, books, fly fishing (my first class is on the 15th), family, the church - especially my church - the PCA, education and learning, memory formation, daily life, and the gospel. I am learning about tags
I am doing this blog for myself, also. The discipline of writing for the public is one skill that does not come easy to me. I keep leaving words out or forget to use punctuation.  Yes, Celeste, my wife, will be my editor. I hope in this process to improve my writing skills. My vision is that in writing I will force myself to clarify my thoughts so others can understand them even if they do not agree with me.
A closing thought to consider: Reconciliation represents the deepest application of Christ’s atonement because it is about relationships.