A good woman recently died. I met Martha in church when we moved to Bend in 1987. I saw her as an older woman then, even though she hadn’t yet seen 60. (How foolish young eyes can be...)

Following our bike ride along the Great Allegheny Passage from Pittsburgh to Cumberland, MD, Claudia and I said goodbye to our riding partners and drove a rental car down to see some of her family in the Shenandoah valley outside of Roanoke, VA. Visiting her siblings and their families wraps us up in a warm hug of love (along with plates-full of great southern comfort food).

I’m writing this at 37,000’ on my way to Pittsburgh with Claudia and a couple of dear friends, Dan and Marlys. We are off on a five day biking adventure on the Great Allegheny Passage. Dan and Marlys are easy to travel with and we count them as true friends.

I came across a new book this week that I’ll order in due time. It’s by Kevin DeYoung and the title is worth the price of admission. Impossible Christianity: Why following Jesus does not mean you have to change the world, be an expert in everything, accept spiritual failure, and feel miserable pretty much all the time. That’s a mouthful and quite a promise.

Look around at the various squeeze points on your thinking and living. Our challenge is to stay current with the world in which we live, at the same time hold fast to the truths that transcend trends.

A book Claudia picked up on Kindle a while ago has elbowed its way into my morning reading times. Titled, A Year of Living Prayerfully: How a Curious Traveler Met the Pope, Walked on Coals, Danced with Rabbis, and Revived His Prayer Life, by Jared Brock. Written in a semi-comedic way, this Canadian and his wife spent a year meeting with a very, very wide variety of folks, listening and asking questions about prayer in their experience.

Every church has its lane. And each one thinks they are right, and to some degree we all get stuff wrong. Think about different kinds of churches...

• From high church with their smells and bells

• To the sawdust trails of revivalists

• Liturgical churches following a calendar or free ones ignoring them

• Some so very conservative they squeak, all the way to plenty liberal enough to ooze

• and like Baskin-Robbins, so many many more flavors

This summer, some close friends welcomed around 50 folks to their home on the river for a night of laughs and good talk and a fine meal of some of the best brisket I've ever eaten. Our host, Don, shared the story below. I'm not sure where he got it and maybe you have read it before, but it is worth a repeat.

Pedestals are for statues, not people.

Once we elevate a person to an admired status, we can inadvertently rob them of the rough edges that make up the human experience.

This summer will remain in my mind’s memory file as a trying one.

• I watched a friend’s family continue to spin out of control, and the husband feeling powerless to change its trajectory.

• I stood in grief with many others saying goodbye, for now, to a remarkable young man.

• Entropy proves itself again true as my body slowly slows from a lively sprint to more of a wobbly jog.

• The growing polarization in our nation and community looks more and more like flashing warning lights of an oncoming calamity.