Just a Road Trip??

Just a Road Trip??

What a year! So frightening! So confusing! So many questions! And the negativity! And the wild rumors! And the vicious accusations! Families and community divided. Life completely turned sideways by all these unexpected and unwelcome developments. And now, this late...
Are we, too, ‘Surprised by Joy’?

Are we, too, ‘Surprised by Joy’?

Some are hilarious. Some are full of pathos and drama. Some are downright scary. Still others are heartwarming and sweet. “I remember one time .  .  .” is how many of the tellings of our life stories get started, with those around us typically chiming in with tales...
I hope there’s pie for dessert!

I hope there’s pie for dessert!

A US Thanksgiving. A tradition. An annual ritual. A trip across the miles to gather again. An occasion for hugs and reunion and tears and laughter and shared memories. This tradition is a wondrous thing but, sadly, for more than a few, it is a ghastly moral obligation...
Billy and Me and the Apostle Paul, too

Billy and Me and the Apostle Paul, too

In a recent ‘Family Circus’ comic strip (yes, another comic strip!) Mommy asks young Billy to go ask his dad to come help her with some boxes in the attic. Billy dutifully heads off, briefly looking through every room of the house, out the back door, then a quick tree...
Gratitude Symbols

Gratitude Symbols

How many symbols will you see, without seeing them, today? It’s a natural phenomenon, when on familiar territory, to establish one’s destination, then just go there, oblivious to all the things passed along the way (ie. because fast food joints are not on my radar, if...
Cracked Pots Shining

Cracked Pots Shining

When a musician’s performance is flawless, when an athlete’s competing is without error, when a potter throws the perfect pot, when an orator delivers the consummate, stirring speech, the ease, the simplicity, the aplomb, all elicit oohs and aahs from onlookers. But...
Remembering, Regrouping, Rejoicing

Remembering, Regrouping, Rejoicing

Have you ever been in a conversation about current events, where someone cited a verses or passage from the Bible which seemed as though they could be today’s Breaking News? As though they were not millennia old? As though nothing had changed since they were...
A 36,000’ Perspective

A 36,000’ Perspective

Two weeks ago, before tearing ourselves away from the warm embrace of precious fellowship with saintly friends in Topeka, Kansas, we sat down to our final, sublimely decadent, homemade breakfast: bacon and pannenkoeken (topped with blueberries, strawberry preserves...
Thanks for the Memories!

Thanks for the Memories!

Yesterday morning at the gym, while doing some warm-up stretches, I was the casual observer of three young 30-something guys setting up their morning workout circuit – 4 rounds of: 45 seconds of jump rope, 45 seconds of planks, 45 seconds of jump-squats and 45 seconds...