Monthly Archives: August 2008

My mother passed on ten years ago last Saturday. She would have been a delightful old bird of eighty-eight. My father followed her seven years later. He would have been a crotchety old geezer of eighty-nine, God love him. I got to visit with my oldest brother that day, and it added a pleasant dimension to the anniversary. The week she passed on was an odd one. My father was evidently in the throes of both Alzheimer’s and a certain measure of denial. His grasp on the world slipped considerably when she left. She was his last reason to keep …

My son learned to water ski last month. We’ve had boats for many years, but he’s never been interested. I actually bribed him to try it. Now he wants to enter some local competitions. We’ve taken out two of his buddies to teach them. Both watched him ski with that combination of grace and daring that made it look easy. As with anything of value, it takes effort. On the kid’s part, and on ours. The kid had to keep listening, applying the advice, trying to get his body to do the awkward motions long enough, that it no longer …

Why is there anything? How did You come to be? What’s up with dreams? How do You keep track of all this? What did the Garden on Eden look like? What does the appendix do? These are just a few of the questions I have for God. I plan to keep updating the list, from time to time. I have others, that don’t seem lofty enough for public display, but I plan to ask all the same. My questions don’t offend God, because I seek the truth. There are many cases in the bible where the Pharisees and the Sadducees …

  From multiple corners of my life, I have recently heard the same sentiment expressed: I need to make the time I have left count. None of these people could tell you precisely how much time that is, but the responsibility to steward it well steeps in the heart of each. It’s a nudging I feel myself, and every December, it becomes an elbow shot to the ribs. As with every gift given by God, He will demand an accounting. Did my words uplift? Did my opinion speak truth? Did the time I spend with that person bring me closer …