My Forever Home
Fifty five years ago today I answered the door to find my dad standing there as part of the visitation team from our little church in Southern California. He came in, of course, and told me he knew I had some questions about church membership. The day before I had checked the box declaring I…
Big Brother is Watching you!
George Orwell coined the phrase “Big Brother is watching you” in his classic novel 1984. The concept is that we are being surveilled constantly by some distant authority figure. It is a creepy idea to consider that some person or government would be invading the privacy of its citizens and controlling others, even passively just…
Family Friday #5 There’s no place like home!
When Jim and I got married we first lived in a quonset hut in Bellflower. Our church had bought some property that was dubbed the promised land and we were to move into a small house on that property once the escrow closed. So we lived in the place Jim had lived in prior to…
Lost things
There is a funny story about some keys that I will share but it got me thinking about the things I have lost. It has been said that the average person in America spends about 2.5 days a year looking for things misplaced, usually the remote, cell phone, shoes, glasses and keys. The amount of…
Life in one sentence
It is the time of year where people sum up the past 365 days and look forward to the next 365. I am not sure that I want to sum up my life in one trite or pithy expression and yet, though life is more than a motto they do serve a purpose. Without then…
Breathe Deep
Years ago, Jim and I found a band called Lost Dogs; some of the members had been part of the early Christian music movement. Their lyrics made us think and ponder anew the reality that is YHWH. This song is one of theirs that we sang with our youth groups. Verse 1: Politicians, morticians, philistines,…
Labels
I have lots of these and my favorites are based on my identity in relationships – daughter. sister. aunt. mom. friend. wife. When I am introduced to someone often the labels I am asked for are not the ones based on relationship (perhaps it is too intimate), but rather the identifiers are based on what…
Easter 2023
Today is Friday. Fridays have become a good day because I switched my role as minister to worker bee and now have a weekend to rest, play and get chores done. This Friday is extra special because it is God’s Friday around the world as we remember the work of Christ on the cross. Can…
Miracles
Yesterday at our weekly staff meeting one of the shepherds asked us to list miracles we have witnessed and the room was silent. Really?! A room full of full time ministers and christian workers who could not share a miracle! (myself included). I am sure that some of the lack of response was due to…
Heroes
There are heroes in the world. Some are disguised as regular people. I know some – actually I know more than my fair share. They may not be the superhero kind who wear capes and have otherworldly superpowers but they are the real deal. One of my superheroes, at 87 years old, went to Africa…