About Me
My background
My life journey has taken me from poverty in the Great Depression to a White House appointment as a Presidential Exchange Executive. Along this journey, my professional assignments included those as a university professor, dean, president, and chancellor, then Executive Vice President of the Council of Independent Colleges in Washington, D.C. Other professional assignments in the nation's capital include senior executive positions at national and international research and human service organizations and associations, including The Better World Society, USO, International Life Sciences Institute, among them. I have been privileged to participate in diplomatic missions to government entities around the globe, including hostile ones, and my participation in establishing the University of Peace in Costa Rica, as well as designing and conducting the first Sino-American Seminar on Higher Education In Taiwan as part of a national cross-cultural project for students at colleges across the United States. I also served on the national board of Care International as well as numerous human services organizations at the local level.
Along the way, I have observed and interacted with the privileged and powerful and the "everyman" in my travels to all fifty states, four continents, and more than a dozen countries. Jesus was pretty clear about "rendering unto Ceasar that which is Ceasar's, and to God the things which are God's." My experience in the federal government, and interaction with foreign governments, suggest to me that this is one of the greatest challenges for Christians who desire to follow this distinction. From my body of experience and resulting worldview, I see misinformation driven by digital platforms that pervade contemporary life. Powerful politicians and corporate entities often convey alternative facts and untruths. All too often this attack on truth undermines man's redeeming virtues and, far too often, his inhumanity to his fellow man.
As Christians who have pledged fidelity to the Lord of Life, as well as loyalty to country, we must always be vigilant that these are in harmony. For Jesus made other pivotal statements to remember when we assess our priorities, and those of our government. That is, how we are to treat the marginalized and disadvantaged among us, and how we are to protect the world God made for us, among other admonitions. This blog seeks to examine these intersections in our contemporary lives, so that we may be one of His good and faithful servants.
Lloyd M. Richardson, Ed.D
My writing roots
As an academic, I wrote the prerequisite theses and dissertation for advanced degrees, grant proposals to support research and program initiatives, analytical reports for capital campaigns, and 'make the case' messages for direct mail appeals. Writing for pleasure was only a hobby until I returned to a university classroom during my semi-retirement period, which allowed time to reflect, do research, and write for the sheer pleasure of creating word images. I have focused on "imagining" how Jesus lived during the thirty years of his life for which there is no scriptural record. There is, however, historical, cultural, and archeological records from which we can "imagine" the human side of his life.
My style
My personal approach to historical fiction is to 'imagine' life in the context of the characters in the story, and to reveal their human emotions as they confront the realities of their time as revealed by reputable research. My particular interests include 'imagining' the day to day life of biblical characters, and the use and abuse of power by political leaders and the wealthy. The Gospel record only totals about 30 days of Jesus's life, a very small sampling of the thirty-three years he walked the earth. i see him confronting the "Domination Systems" of his day in a way that should serve as a model for those of us living two milleniums later. While difficult to do, I try to write at a reading level suitable for everyone from nine to ninety.