it was a short notean old friend wroteall he said washe was “vinlying”John Denver recordsthat’s all, yetthe mere mentionof the melodiessent me “memorying”across layers of timeto long ago nightswhen we playedand sang and talkedof poems, prayersand promisesand things thatwe believed inI still know the chordsand the wordsand the feelingsthey have agedright along with me,as have…

I’m back in full swing at the restaurant at Duke since the second semester is just finishing it’s first full week. The big news for us is Duke Dining dropped some serious change to renovate our dining room; now it looks like a real restaurant instead of, well, a college dining hall. I’ve spent a…

Here are few things I brought home from church with me yesterday, thanks to our hymnal,Hymns of Truth and Light, in the order I found them. In the face of human suffering, one has no right to turn away, not to see. In the face of injustice, one may not look the other way. When…

My mind is all over the place. Perhaps I would state it better to say my mind has been bombarded by several things that have set it swirling. I can’t help thinking about what is happening in Gaza; part of the reason it bothers me is I feel helpless to do anything about it. I…

in the beginning was the Wordand the Word was with Godand the Word was God . . . and the Word became fleshand dwelt among us Those familiar words from John, along with the rest of the first seventeen verses of Chapter One, were the text for Ginger’s sermon. As she talked about the Word…

Today has been a full day and tonight is a short night because I have to be at work at 6:30 in the morning. I have a great deal I want to talk about from church today, but I have to set it aside because my heart is heavy as I watch what Israel is…

I managed to make it through most all of the holiday season with only one or two trips to the mall. Online shopping allowed me the luxury of avoiding the experience of standing in front of the large lighted mall map, trying to figure out how to find a particular purveyor, which also means looking…

That’s right: I’m going to start the new year talking about toilet paper. When we moved into our house, we put in this double roll holder (with magazine rack) because it meant there was less chance of running out. It also holds the big double rolls of Quilted Northern (our preferred brand), which we load…

I preached at our church today so Ginger could take her parents back to Birmingham. What follows is the sermon. First, a quick note to say my brother’s surgery appears to have gone well; he is flat on his back in the hospital and not allowed to move until Tuesday, just to make sure. Thanks…

It’s early Saturday morning. Christmas is not even two days gone and already things are changing. Ginger drove out about an hour ago to take her parents back to Birmingham after their two weeks with us. Since the V. A. is going to provide Rachel with some money to pay for some home healthcare, Lola,…