Note: this is an excerpt from An Ordinary Death: Where Grief and Relief Hold Hands, available from Amazon.com. As I awoke this morning and looked out, I saw a hard frost covering the expansive view outside the upstairs windows of my mother’s house. Cold, hard, glittering, beautiful. The early light from the sunrise enhanced the silver tones of frost, producing an intriguing monotone effect. A touch on the thermostat almost immediately sent warm air into the chilly room, and I... Read more
The news hit the cyber world last week. A new memoir, “Battle Hymn of the Tiger Mother,” by Yale Law School Professor, Amy Chua upstaged all of us wimpy American parents. One commentator noted that Chua “didn’t let her own girls go out on play dates or sleepovers. She didn’t let them watch TV or play video games or take part in garbage activities like crafts. Once, one of her daughters came in second to a Korean kid in a... Read more
I was really tickled this morning reading this article about whether there should be two spaces or one after a period and before starting the next sentence. The author rants about the awfulness of the still prevailing practice of putting two spaces after a period and insists that only one belongs there. Those who learned to type on a manual typewriter (and there are so few of us left) learned from the earliest training that two spaces are required in... Read more
I have a dark side.  Anyone who knows me very well has to be highly aware of that.  My moods, my thoughts, my soul can periodically enter that deep darkness and wade in the sadness and sorrow to be found there.  Recently, it was suggested to me that I might be better off to eliminate that part of my experience. I suppose with enough chemicals I might be able to do that.  Just “anti-” myself up enough to go through... Read more
In response and reaction to the horror of this past week’s shooting rampage (January, 2011), some are suggesting that new laws be enacted that prohibit guns from being with 1000 feet of a Member of Congress. Great idea. But I also don’t want guns to be within 1000 feet of me, or my loved ones, or any of my friends, or even any of my enemies. So why don’t I get the same protection? Am I just not worth what... Read more
This past week has been a horrific one for the nation. Democratic Representative to the US Congress from Arizona, Gabrielle Giffords, was shot in the head. According to news reports, Ms. Giffords had taken strong stands on certain positions, particularly health care and immigration laws, that many disagreed with.  And one person disagreed with her to such a degree that he decided to murder her.  He did not succeed as of the time of the writing.  But a a federal... Read more
In a recent conversation with my sister, as we were commiserating with each other over our live challenges, we both said, “If I had known what the future would hold, would I have had the courage to face it?” There’s no way to answer that question, because we never, ever know what the future will hold. Most of us have heard of some of these famous predictions: “I think there is a world market for maybe five computers.”- Thomas Watson,... Read more
It is late Christmas afternoon.  I’m alone in the house, listening to classical Christmas music, and doing so with a growing awareness that I am not the only one with a tendency to the minor key or to the tinge of sadness experienced by many during this season. We Christians properly celebrate the birth of Jesus now. Not that we know a date or time of year this child came into the world. Not that we really understand the how... Read more
It’s Christmas Eve and it is cold and rainy outside.  Last Christmas Eve, we had a blizzard here in Krum.  Does God not want us to have Christmas Eve services? I know that seems a silly question, but it is not one for those who think that God is in the business of making our lives easy and ensuring that houses of worship are full on special occasions. Of course, we who live with sprinklers and sewers and water towers... Read more
Santa is “freaky.”  That’s the conclusion the youth I work with on Wednesday nights reached. Last night, I had the youth compare two songs: “Santa Claus is Coming to Town” and “O Holy Night.” When they actually looked carefully at the words of “Santa Claus is Coming to Town” they immediately and as a group called out “freaky.”  It really bothered them that Santa was watching them while they slept.  That he appeared to know everything about them.  That he... Read more
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