Learning
Growth
Unity
Older than I Was, but Not Yet Old
Friday date night began mid-morning with a hike along Wychus Creek. (Have I ever mentioned how much I love date nights that start in the morning?!)
After following the noisy little stream, the trail veers upward over boulders where the path isn’t always obvious. (I may or may not have led us off the main route to a drop-off once.)
Keep Your Shenanigans to a Minimum
Don’t tell anyone, but I like to drive outside the lines. It’s just to remind myself who’s in charge. I’m not going to let some bureaucrat at the department of transportation tell me what to do! Pretty rebellious, I know, but some of you go even further with your “off-roading”. You know who you are!
Just One Word
The other day I ran across a question while reading that made me stop and ponder. Simple, yet profound. Transparent, yet complex.
“If you had to use a single word to describe Jesus in his life and ministry, what might it be?”
Think of all the possibilities: Wise, loving, compassionate, focused, bold, and many others might come to mind. The article said that when posed that question, Dallas Willard, the USC prof and prolific writer, often on spiritual formation, immediately responded with…relaxed.
Hey, God, Are You Here?
Claudia and I have been on a bit of a holiday.
As I write this we are far from home. It is just getting light, and I’m sitting at a worn oak table beside a window looking out on rolling French fields of mowed corn, harvested vineyards, nut orchards and woodlots. The November slate-gray skies and soaking rain make staying in today…inviting. And there’s close to nothing on the agenda.
Alzheimer's – My Perspective: A Continuing Conversation
This is a continuing conversation that Dorene and I have agreed to share with our church family. If you have not read the first installment, Dorene’s blog of 9/25/25, “How Are You?...I don’t Know…But…,” it can be found on the church blog, “The Forge,” scroll down to 9/25/25, and read it. It is her thoughts as she progresses through this disease. You will also meet the new guests at our house, “Alzyee and Arthur.”
Wilderness Days
Poet Jan Richardson writes these lines.
I am not asking you to take this wilderness from me, to remove this place of darkness where I come to know the wildness in me.
But send me tough angels, sweet wine, strong bread: just enough.
What Are Your Markers of Success?
Back in the olden days, there were paper calendars with pretty pictures that hung on our kitchen walls. The one on display in our home tracked our crazy, busy schedule with two children. Looking at that calendar with all its crammed-full squares gave me a sense of worth. How skewed was that?!
Where it Happened: Nine Resurrection Sites in the Bible
At the end of this month, my mom and dad are heading to the holy land without me. Like a puppy looking out the window when his family leaves the house, I am left behind only to dream of the wonderful places they are visiting. Pouring over maps, paying close attention to the names of places in the Bible, I imagine the sights, sounds and smells of the land full of milk and honey.
Ambushed in the Morning
So, there I was, sitting in my reading chair early in the morning, tending to my knitting. My bible was open to Luke 6, cruising along, and suddenly I got ambushed by Jesus’ words from the Message translation.
Why are you so polite with me, always saying “Yes, sir,” and “That’s right, sir,” but never doing a thing I tell you? These words I speak to you are not mere additions to your life, homeowner improvements to your standard of living. They are foundation words, words to build a life on.
Keeping in Step with the Spirit: Who Is He and What Does He Do?
There’s a lot of confusion about the Holy Spirit today.
A fishing friend of mine recently complimented me as being “spiritual”. I took it as evidence of the Holy Spirit working in and through my life. I suspect my friend meant something different.
Lessons from a ‘48 Frazer
The year was 1959. Our family was preparing to go to Mexico City from Seattle as missionaries. We had never been there to see if we liked it. My father had been to Ciudad Juarez, across the border from El Paso, once, and felt God was calling him to take his family to Mexico. We had a nice 1952 Ford and Dad had built a small trailer in which to haul all our earthly goods.
Fall in Bend
I love fall in Bend.
Warm-ish days and cold nights signal the change I always enjoy seeing come through the door. The trees around town and in our neighborhood will soon stand out as clownish, dressed in crayon-colors of reds and yellows and oranges popping against the ever-green evergreens.
Oh, Dang...Again?
It’s pretty common when a Jesus-follower is explaining their faith to someone who has yet to meet him, for him or her to drop into almost salesman mode. Describing a faith-life can come across as living without hardship, drama, major problems and where all is rosy. On top of that an impression can be left that life as God’s child is always sweet and following his directions easy and personal faults fade.
Hogwash.
The Best Five Years of My Life
“Aside from the cancer, this has been the best five years of my life,” he’d said to his brother-in-law before passing. His words were shared at his funeral, and they stuck with me. Five years ago, my nephew Michael was diagnosed with glioblastoma, a type of brain cancer. It forced an early retirement as a pediatrician.
An Oldster's Life Template
Recently I spent a weekend with a bunch of old dudes. We gathered to explore ideas concerning how we can flourish and finish strong. All the guys were in their 4th quarter, some in the red zone.
When it comes to oldsters, elders, geezers, we have traveled into and transitioned out of the first two stages of a person’s life.
Acts: The Word Planted
Welcome to another edition of “Acts”, stories of the Holy Spirit’s exploits in today’s world. Sometimes the Holy Spirit makes himself evident with tongues of fire. Other times, he passes by in a barely audible whisper. Today’s story is more like the latter.
How Are You?...I Don’t Know…But…
In this brief letter, I am discussing a very serious subject, but in my own Dorene-Style-Speak because that’s what comes naturally for me. Please bear with my humor, but please, please, also hear my message.
Let me introduce you to my new roommate. I call her “Alzyee.” It’s my way of making light of a terrible diagnosis.
Bowling Alone
You’ve seen it plenty of times: The older man sitting on a bench by himself who appears to be quite alone, or the woman hunched in the booth at the diner slowly eating at a table set for one, or the person of any age walking down the street looking lost.
When Your Plans Go Sideways
Once upon a time, I planned a happy marriage with kiddos who, when they grew up and married, would live just down the street from us. Well, maybe not down the street, but certainly closer than 2,784 miles (daughter, son-in-law, and grandkids) and 3,716 miles (son and daughter-in-law).
Catawba Road
Time flies but memories hang on with lessons learned.
It seems like just last summer, but it’s been ten years since I rode my bike across the country. Claudia kissed me goodbye in Yorktown, VA and four days into the journey I stopped to see her at her brother and sister-in-law’s place just west of the Blue Ridge. On Mother’s Day it was truly launch day for this solo trip I had imagined for so long.