One of my kids’ favorite activities when we have new visitors over for dinner is to try and get me telling stories. I’ve told many of these stories so many times that the kids like to start to tell them on their own if I don’t comply with their requests. I imagine some of these stories are among the things they will take with them long after I am gone, but to ensure that they are correct (according to my flawed memory), I’ve decided to write several of the more popular ones down. These stories are true to the best … Read the rest
Monthly Archives: November 2015
Story Telling – Alaskan Rescue
One of my kids’ favorite activities when we have new visitors over for dinner is to try and get me telling stories. I’ve told many of these stories so many times that the kids like to start to tell them on their own if I don’t comply with their requests. I imagine some of these stories are among the things they will take with them long after I am gone, but to ensure that they are correct (according to my flawed memory), I’ve decided to write several of the more popular ones down. These stories are true to the best … Read the rest
Book Burning
For most of the world, there is little thought that goes into disposing of something. You simply put it in the trash bin, set that bin on the curb roughly once a week, and it magically disappears. When you live where we do, though, there is more to it than that. For those in our “neighborhood” who elect to pay for regular trash service, they pay roughly ten times what it costs in the city for the privilege. As an alternative, we have the option of bagging our trash and hauling it off to the local dumpster once a week … Read the rest
Step One
It seems there is someone willing to create an enumerated list or process for tackling any problem we face in life. One such process, applied to addiction and frequently touted, contains twelve steps. What the full list of those twelve directives are, I don’t know and am content to never find out. However, I am sure of the first step: admit you have a problem. I believe our household completed that step today.
For years, Liz has struggled with something short of an addiction. I’ve known about it for a long time, but let it be. On the other hand, … Read the rest
What Do We Hunger For?
Today I was listening to a talk (or sermon depending on your faith tradition) and was granted a new insight into a scripture story I’ve read and contemplated many times before. The speaker brought up the miracle of the loaves and fishes, where Jesus miraculously fed the multitudes. Often this miracle is the focal point of the message. As the speaker continued with the story, I was struck by what followed.
In John chapter 6, we read about Christ feeding the masses with five loaves and two fishes. In addition to the marvelous teachings they heard, all who were there … Read the rest
Bag of Rocks
Many years ago, two intrepid scout masters took the young men from my church youth group on a week-long backpacking trip into an offshoot of the Rocky Mountains. One of the guys in our group was physically smaller than the rest of us and had a chip on his shoulder to compensate. As a result, and as matter of record, I didn’t have a lot of love for him. In fact, he had spent most of the last two years pestering and tormenting me — his apparent goal being to start a fight with me (beat me up) to prove … Read the rest