I like fires. Not the raging forest fires like we’re seeing in Colorado, California and other places. Not the structure fires that cause so much destruction and heartache, just the plain ‘ole fireplace-type fires. At one of the homes we lived, we had a chiminea. They are pot-bellied ovens, that have a bulbous bowl with […]
One of my favorite things about leading a team to Haiti is our reflection time each night. We talk about what happened during the day, where we saw God that day, and then we pose a question to the group. Each night a different person chooses the question. I have a book of questions that […]
Fifty years ago, we were at a camp somewhere in Wisconsin. Probably thirty people were glued to a 12 inch, black and white TV. Seriously, twelve inches. Smaller than most people’s computer screens. Seriously thirty people. At least. Seriously, black and white TV. Google it. We were watching Neil Armstrong bounce down a ladder to […]
My granddaughter discovered Fused Bead kits. They are little, colored, plastic cylinders that you place on peg boards. After your design is finished, you fuse them together with a hot iron. She knows I like baseball so created a baseball design for me that I use as a coaster. Other common patterns are hearts and […]
When I was a kid, my dad was connected to a church camp near a local lake. It was a rustic camp experience. Originally, there was a Quonset that housed the kitchen and supplies. Campers slept on cots in teepees, mostly cooked outdoors, and experienced nature up close and personal. Like the time a skunk […]
On our last trip to Haiti, I took a picture of a row of our water bottles. We just take water for granted. The local water there isn’t safe for us to drink, so we buy five-gallon jugs of “Culligan” water and use that water for drinking, brushing teeth, or cooking. It’s so easy to […]
My work takes me to Nashville, two or three times a year. Near the hotel where I usually stay is a nice walking path. It surrounds a golf course, goes through a wooded area, and crosses a meandering creek. When it is nice out, there are a number of people out walking or biking on […]
This was one of those weeks. Two people died unexpectedly. Neither I knew well, but well enough. The brother of one of my good friends fell down a flight of steps, suffered significant injuries, and it didn’t end well. The other was a person I’d served on a community board with and died very unexpectedly […]
There was a monastery and one of the requirements of this religious order was that the young men must maintain silence. Opportunities to speak were scheduled once every two years, at which time they were allowed to speak only two words. A young monk completed his first two years of training and was invited by […]
I am a product of the plains. Lived in the tree-less, ocean-less, mountain-less parts of the world my entire life. So it seems like we head for treed or mountained or oceaned parts of the world when we can. This past week I’ve traveled to Maine and Florida. Definitely treed and oceaned places, and incredibly […]