Have you ever compared yourself and your suffering with others in their life situations? It’s very easy to do, but very difficult to survive. Such comparisons are relative, often lack full context, and take our eyes off of where our focus needs to be in addressing our own life struggles. What do you do if someone says to you, “There are people who have it so much worse than you do…”? Or what do you with the statement made by... Read more

It was a good thing I had followed the nurse’s instructions and sat down after getting my second dose of the COVID vaccine Saturday afternoon. My eyes welled up with tears, as I sat still. No, the tears did not result from the shot, but from having read a moving text I had just received from Pastor Tom Schiave. Pastor Tom had just left my son Christopher’s hospital room. Christopher is in a coma resulting from a traumatic brain injury.... Read more

In John’s Gospel, there are two resurrections: the resurrections of Lazarus and Jesus. The greatest miraculous sign Jesus performs prior to his own resurrection is raising Lazarus from the dead, as recorded in John 11. In Charles Dickens’ A Tale of Two Cities, I find two resurrections—that of Frenchman Charles Darnay and that of Englishman Sydney Carton. In the crucible of the French Revolution, Carton, who bears a striking resemblance to Darnay, exchanges clothes and changes places with Darnay who... Read more

Simon Peter could have benefited from reading Elisabeth Kübler-Ross’s book On Death and Dying. It might have helped him grapple with Jesus’ pending death and then the aftermath. Peter appears to have gone through several, possibly all, of Kübler-Ross’s five stages of grief—denial, anger, bargaining, depression, and acceptance—before and after Jesus’ “Stations of the Cross.” Before reflecting further on Simon Peter, it is worth noting that not everyone goes through all five stages, or in some linear progression. There may... Read more

A pastor friend who visited my son Christopher in the hospital told Mariko and me the pain he felt for us in walking the long corridors to and from his critical care unit. My son is in a coma after suffering a traumatic brain injury several weeks ago. Here’s what Pastor Jim Sequeira wrote to us: “I cannot come close to imagining what you all are going through but after checking in at the front, walking down the back hallway and making... Read more

Not all enduring questions and concerns are welcome ones to ponder. But still, they never get old. Those who seriously examine the human condition over the ages account for intense feelings of finitude and the inevitability of our mortal lives coming to an end, the gnawing question of nihilism and whether life has meaning, and agonizing remorse and regrets over things we have done or failed to do. Such considerations can easily overwhelm us and the inner turmoil they generate... Read more

It doesn’t take something of great size or magnitude in the arena of spirituality or neurology to mess with our entire system. Maybe it is a damaging statement or experience in a longstanding relationship or damaging of a small bodily part. A memory trigger or a loss of memory, a problem with regulating emotion. What will it take for healing to occur? My son Christopher’s hypothalamus was no doubt severely damaged by his traumatic brain injury. After all, functions controlled... Read more

In the lower level of Yale University Divinity School’s library, you will find a small chapel dedicated to the memory of Henri Nouwen. He taught at Yale from 1971-1981. Regardless of the rationale for the chapel being tucked away in a back corner deep in the library, I find its placement quite fitting on a symbolic level for life, especially now. Nouwen was a learned man, who reflected deeply on life. However, it was not in a library or at... Read more

Last night, I replaced an old flower arrangement with some freshly cut tulips in my son’s hospital room. While I told Christopher what I was doing, and while I believe he could hear me in his comatose state caused by a traumatic brain injury, still he could not see the tulips. Given that he cannot see them, one might ask “Why replace the flowers for him?” Well, for one, I told him that I was doing so. My hope is... Read more

Have you ever stood spellbound and mesmerized before a masterpiece in an art gallery? This is what happened to me yesterday, though the painting wasn’t in an art gallery. It was a scene being painted in living color involving a spectacular use of light, darkness, and shadow in a hospital room. My friend Pastor Jim Sequeira went to visit my son Christopher yesterday in the hospital. He is in a coma following a traumatic brain injury suffered earlier this year.... Read more