Exquisite Hope

Go back in time, a couple of millenia with me:  It is now the month of Tishri (Sept/Oct), year 3758 of the Hebrew calendar.  From this point, only 200 years ago the Ming Dynasty was building the Great Wall of China, and the Mayan civilization created a calendar.   On this tiny little blue green planet,...

The Whore

Call me Gomer. So often, I just can't figure God out. The books of Job and Hosea make it worse. Oh I get the point of the books, but I have such a problem with the thought that God used real, living breathing humans with feelings and emotions to create examples for posterity. Given the...

lib does dallas

I do enjoy motorcycle trips. Maybe it's the riding; perhaps the solitude, could be the inevitably scheduled visits with old friends. I think it's all three. When I mounted the steed this morning in Central Arkansas, the temperature outside my garage was 27 F. That's -2.7 for you Celsius people. At 70 mph that comes...

memoria

50 year birthday. Thanksgiving. Christmas Season. One son in college and another with his first car. It has all piled up on me. As I was driving to meet a couple of new clients this morning, my mind was flooded with memories. It was like watching an old 8mm film of my life, projected onto...

make. it. work.

I'm thankful for my family. No really. I am. I know that sounds trite this time of year, but hear me out. I have seen one too many families fall apart. Maybe some not so much "fell apart," as were violently but slowly and agonizingly pulled apart by seemingly invisible, giant claws. Decisions. Mine is...

commune, already

The Third Self Righteous Church of Dunkers & Sprinklers shared Holy Communion this lovely morning. It was a most solemn and reverent occasion, moving the parishioners and even the most otherwise lackadaisical or ambivalent attendees to think deep thoughts about themselves. The sacred gilded dishes were taken out of storage, dusted off, and the hardened...

50 yr eval

I turned 50 about a month ago. I have yet to reach an age for which I'm not ready, where I feel like I haven't accomplished enough for my age, or at which I am dissatisfied with who or what I am. 50 is no exception. I have learned some things in the last year...

mallem alibi

As I think and write tonight I am sitting on the 10th floor of Bay Lake Tower of the Contemporary Resort at Walt Disney World. Out the window I can see "Cinderella's Castle" all lit up with icicle lights for Christmas. The fireworks show just ended. I almost always read a book to prepare for...

of chrysalis and ash

A chrysalis is the shell, or bag - the container - in which a caterpillar becomes a butterfly. The idea of a caterpillar becoming a butterfly is amazing and inspiring to any elementary school student, but sadly, many adults never look at this metamorphosis from a more mature perspective. A Butterfly undergoes its metamorphosis in...

reflections from the belly of the whale

This could be titled Phlegm 3, but I got tired of the nasty connotations of that word. As I have sat at home today, thinking, praying, pondering, and being generally disgusted at how little I can do, I had these thoughts, mostly as a result of my time in the hospital. If I am physically...