writing – Spiritual Wanderings

Physically Eighty-Eight – Spiritually Fifty-Two

September 8th was my birthday. Not the birthday recorded on my birth certificate. That one says I am eighty-eight years old. This is another kind of birthday. On September 8, 1974, fifty-two years ago today, I began my Christian journey. Physically, I am eighty-eight. Spiritually, I am fifty-two. I was thirty-six when the Lord spokeContinue reading “Physically Eighty-Eight – Spiritually Fifty-Two”

I Still Have a Dream

Four years ago, when I was eighty-four, I wrote a reflection called I Have a Dream I wrote about Abraham leaving familiar country for a land he had never seen. I wrote about Moses and Joshua—men whose greatest assignments did not arrive when they were young. And I wrote about being a late bloomer. I earnedContinue reading “I Still Have a Dream”

Hanging In There

The God Who Notices Splinters We have been home from Alaska for one week. It has been a good week. Or perhaps I should say it has been a successful week. Those are not always exactly the same thing. Two prison messages have been delivered at the Chapel of Hope. The first was on theContinue reading “Hanging In There”

This morning I have been remembering.

Maybe that is one of the privileges of being eighty-eight. You can sit with a cup of coffee and suddenly discover that something you haven’t thought about in fifty years has wandered back into the room. This particular wandering started several days ago with a movie, Song Sung Blue, and a question: What did you wannaContinue reading “This morning I have been remembering.”

Comfortable Shoes

This morning I moved sprinklers. Not once, but several times. Our yard doesn’t have an automatic irrigation system anymore. When Tanya and I bought this place four years ago, the yard had been neglected. We hauled away truckloads of clutter, removed more tree stumps than I care to remember, cut down dead trees, and dugContinue reading “Comfortable Shoes”

LARGO TENEBROSO

The Descent The city lay behind them. The valley waited below. Only a few moments earlier the air had seemed almost transparent. The Father’s presence had filled every word of the prayer. Heaven itself had seemed near enough to touch. Then… they stepped away. There are places where the presence of God seems to restContinue reading “LARGO TENEBROSO”

A Journey Back to Our Roots: The Power of Thinking

Here I sit. And think.There was a time,many, in fact,That my dad sat and thought.And I know my grandfather sat and thought.I saw Grandfather sit in the passenger seat of our car.Dad was driving andMy grandfather sat teaching through the Psalm numbered 23, something for which he thought about. My great-grandfather sat. Never saw him.Continue reading “A Journey Back to Our Roots: The Power of Thinking”