“See to it that no one takes you captive through hollow and deceptive philosophy, which depends on human tradition and the elemental spiritual forces of this world rather than on Christ.” Colossians 2:8 NIV
Not every prison has bars. Some are built with words—polished, persuasive, reasonable-sounding words.
Paul warns us it is possible to be taken captive without realizing it.
No violence. No force. Just ideas that slowly shift our trust—from Christ to self, from revelation to reasoning, from surrender to control.
“Hollow philosophy” is not always loud or aggressive. Often it is gentle. It flatters the intellect. It assures us we are wise, enlightened, progressive, or simply “being realistic.”
Yet beneath the surface, it is empty—because it asks us to build our lives on something or anything other than Christ.
Human tradition tells us what is normal. Culture tells us what is acceptable. Spiritual forces whisper what feels empowering.
But Christ tells us what is true.
The danger Paul points out is not thinking deeply—it is thinking apart from Jesus.
Any belief system that does not bow to Christ’s authority, no matter how sophisticated, will eventually place a yoke on our souls. What promises freedom often ends in quiet captivity.
This verse calls us to vigilance, not fear. We are not told to withdraw from the world, but to anchor ourselves in Christ so firmly that no wave of thought can carry us away.
The question is not: “Does this make sense to me?” but rather: “Does this lead me closer to Christ—or subtly away from Him?”
You may say to yourself, “My power and the strength of my hands have produced this wealth for me.” But remember the Lord your God, for it is he who gives you the ability to produce wealth, and so confirms his covenant, which he swore to your ancestors, as it is today.” Deuteronomy 8:17-18 NIV
Give credit where credit is due.
Entitlements are just us grasping for personal meaning and value.
They are the first step at denying God his rightful place in our lives.
Like asking God to take our selfie, pride in our own accomplishments misses the point altogether.
Either all good things originate with God or none of them do.
Cherry picking for our own egos denies the one who allowed the tree to flourish in the first place.
God IS the first place in everything and is the sole source of our prosperity.
Eric was there as he is every dark early morning on the overnight shift.
I spent a buck and change and got an earful in return.
It started with my share of delight that I’m spending the holidays with my kids here and earlier with my grandkids in Florida.
He smiled and teared up a little.
I asked him his plans since we’ve been on a first name basis for over a year now.
He has a grown daughter and granddaughter in L.A. he’d like to see but hasn’t in many years.
No bad blood he’s aware of, just her disregard and disinterest in a very lonely dad and grandpa.
He makes attempts to contact at any shred of opportunity, sends cards, gifts and cash on every occasion without acknowledgement.
He is at a loss of what more to do but accept the loneliness despite how desperately he wants to give of himself.
There are lots of Erics out there this time of year while the rest of us are rejoicing and rejoining with loving families.
The most I could do was a warm loaf of my banana blueberry nut bread left for him at the counter with a card that read: “In this world, Eric, we are all family. I enjoy spending a little part of each morning with you over coffee, my friend and brother. Merry Christmas.”
If you want to leave an unforgettable mark on someone’s life this Christmas, opportunities like this are right in front of us to take every day for about a buck and change.
Imagine a small fragment of this world waiting in your hands and seize the opportunity to help them feel connected.
Finally, brothers and sisters, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable—if anything is excellent or praiseworthy—think about such things.
Philippians 4:8 NIV
Haters will say this just promotes the wearing of rose-colored glasses.
Truth is, among all our choices, focusing on the evils in this world will make one sick. Very sick.
Behavioral and therapeutic evidences prove that outcome over and over.
It doesn’t mean we should be so naive to think evils don’t exist, but realistic enough to acknowledge that right, pure, good, and lovely circumstances are what propel us forward, build character, growth, and harmony.
Don’t be a Karen.
Love yourself enough to know the difference and where negative thinking leads you.
People notice and gravitate toward hopeful people.
It wasn’t in my master plan—or at least not this soon—but after a dozen New Years working at HopeLink, I am gone as of December 31.
My employment position was eliminated for 2026 so I’ve launched myself into the requisite abyss of Medicare, Social Security, and truly, the newest of new years challenges I’ve ever experienced.
At 65 now, and the first time I will be unemployed since I was 12 years old, it’s weird. It’s just weird.
So it’s New Year, new me, and the realities of senior living.
I have some contract work lined up and still have some lucid years ahead to earn, learn, and concern myself with my faith, family and friends, the things that matter most for a good exit in this life.
So many of you through the years have stepped up to the plate for me and for HopeLink, I wouldn’t know where to begin the acknowledgments.
Nevertheless, a dozen years ago, I bought into a career mission to prevent homelessness among children, families, and seniors like myself. So many of you came alongside at just the right times to help, volunteer, and generously donate to the cause and mission.
That need still exists and now even moreso.
Homeless once myself, I know firsthand that nothing helps to facilitate a life reset more than having and keeping a roof over your head.
I remain committed to the HopeLink mission, albeit now more through my private life, because some personal missions and ambitions can’t be driven by a job.
If you know me, you know I don’t mess around when it comes to being purpose driven.
You’ve read my website stories and seen my social posts over the years capturing the real life crises and fears of those who, at the time, were imminently homeless seniors and families.
The hardcore interventions we have undertaken to keep these Nevadans housed, if not just for another month or two while finding more permanent solutions, are too numerous to list.
You were there, and I appreciate you for being my friend and partner during my many years at HopeLink.
I’ve many more life chapters to write, and you can always reach me at my website> LifeMeansSoMuch .com or my new personal email at LifeMeansSoMuch60@gmail.com.
Merry Christmas and happy holidays to you and yours.
The Lord your God has blessed you in all the work of your hands. He has watched over your journey through this vast wilderness. These forty years the Lord your God has been with you, and you have not lacked anything. Deuteronomy 2:7 NIV
When reflecting upon how you arrived where you are now, most of us are hindsight critics.
If only I’d taken that different job, made that different decision, or chosen that other pathway.
In doing so we completely miss the sovereignty of God.
The heart of man plans his way, but the Lord establishes his steps—Proverbs 16:9
Life lived in a state of reflective regret changes nothing.
You are where you are entirely by providence. And God is pleased.
Accept your position even though it wasn’t part of your plan and I am convinced he will reveal to you how each step served a divine purpose.
“Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit. Rather, in humility value others above yourselves, not looking to your own interests but each of you to the interests of the others.”
Philippians 2:3-4 NIV
‘Tis the season.
Arguably more goodwill and selflessness prevails at this time of year than at any other.
Parlayed through songs, parties, and gifting, the theme of caring for one another above self lasts for about 6 weeks then comes to a screeching halt in the new year.
Genuine humility is a command, however, that endures beyond times, places, or seasons because it’s provoked by nothing other than a renewed heart.
Christmastime is all year long, celebrating that new birth of Jesus and the the regenerative birth in his people.
Valuing others above ourselves is the gift that gives all year long and into eternity.
When a man makes a vow to the Lord or takes an oath to obligate himself by a pledge, he must not break his word but must do everything he said. Numbers 30:2 NIV
I don’t know about you but I have broken more covenants with God over the years than I dare count.
Vows to do this, pledges to do that, promises that come up empty.
Nearly all have been my best intentions defeaten by my worst compulsions.
The cycle can wear you down with guilt, shame, and an encroaching resolve to just make fewer promises as the best solution.
Truth is, being in a spiritual battle for righteousness is, itself, the signal to God of your redemption, which in the end is what ultimately matters.
Continue making vows, that’s not the problem. The problem is how you’re going about keeping them.
The solution is found in the prayer for your process and skills to be more successful and to know in the meantime, God understands.
He’s the guy who among other things, taught me that on a cold night, two shots of tequila will keep you warmer than a cold beer and leave you free to shake hands with everyone all night long.
Though my drinking days are long over, if I did, it would still be two shots of tequila because of what I learned from him that cold winter night.
At some point, we’ve all been enamored with meeting someone like Stu.
For me it was in a crowded bar mid-December drinking and playing darts into the wee hours.
Someone in our group knew him and called his name to join us as he entered the darkened bar with frosty breath from the cold night.
He gestured a wave our way and headed to the bar.
Even from a distance, it was obvious he was everything we were not.
A beautiful specimen of a man both socially skilled and a truly magnetic attraction. Everything all guys secretly wished to be.
Approaching our wayward group with stacked handfuls of half-filled bronze liquor glasses, my second impression was he was either very thirsty or slightly OCD about glassware.
I’d never done shots before that night.
He was introduced to us by name and that was when I first noticed his uncanny knack of noticing the unnoticeable.
“Hey, Don, nice to meet you” was his greeting with a hug as he handed me two stubby shot glasses while regarding the form of my dart arm mid-throw as particularly good.
His greeting, hug and comment were all one incredibly smooth motion. He knew how to meet someone anywhere and make them feel they were a newly welcomed guest in his own home.
He spoke his words in an intentional, soul-piercing eye to eye vernacular and a shake with his free hand—the right one, of course–which was a remarkable act of balance in itself considering his left was still stacked with greeting shots for other new guests of our dart team he had yet to meet.
Either Stu was the most astutely engaging person I had ever met to date or he was born with the last of a long discontinued gene for it, or both.
He seamlessly joined our motley crew as if he’d already been there with us most of the night. He played darts like a pro, did his two shots like they were milk, spoke with ease and generally made everyone around him want to be him.
If memory serves me, he was also wearing a kilt. Why? For some reason it didn’t seem to matter at the time but further underscored the engaging social confidence that seemed to drive his very existence.
We were all enamored with him, and all the more as we watched him repeatedly whip ass at Cricket, 301 and 501 for the next several hours with the style of a true gentleman.
He cast an engaging spell that made each of us feel we were the winners. He was unstoppable in every way.
To this day, Stu and I remain friends. I threw him his 40th birthday party when he still lived in Vegas and he has since moved 3000 miles away. On Facebook we still follow and like each other as he now lives a charmed life as a consultant and TV show host and travels the world posting pictures of exotic locations and experiences through which I still live vicariously.
Stu taught me something that late night/early morning that forever changed the way I view others.
Somehow, he knew what it felt like to be an other.
In the middle of one game, he left our group for a vacant corner of the bar to start a conversation with a stranger. I didn’t know he was a stranger, only that I’d seen him over there sipping on a beer by himself all night.
Stu returned with him as a new addition to our team.
“Guys, this is Michael.” Nobody questioned the add.
At this point, let me share that one of the things that makes us all most warmed in the heart are those rare stories of someone stepping out of their element, off their podium and out of their comfortable stature to notice one lesser.
Jesus speaking to the Samaritan, the celebrity fixating on the most unlikely of fans in the crowd, the captain of the football team eating lunch with the nerd, the beautiful seeking company of the ugly.
What it feels like to be embraced by the smile of one you least expect.
What it feels like to be welcomed in smallness at a table of greatness.
What it feels like to be considered equal among those clearly superior in so many unimaginable ways.
It was in that bar that very evening when I saw love and humility at work in tandem.
And it was that unlikely night when I absorbed the virtues of a stranger which to this day, helps to define who I am.
Though I haven’t seen Stu for many years, the guy in the kilt taught me more than how to be socially savvy. He taught me that inviting people into one’s life requires a warmth of spirit, remarkable humility and maybe a couple shots of tequila.
So this holiday season, come in from the cold and warm up to people. ‘Tis the season to be jolly, to make new friends, and to be the inspiring example you were born to be.
