The sudden and tragic death of anyone, even if they are a complete stranger, always hits us deeply – especially if the person is on the younger side. And if the individual is “famous” the magnitude of the passing seems to take on an even larger meaning. Such was the death of basketball great Kobe…
Month: January 2020

COUNT YOUR CHICKENS
I am 58 years old and still counting – for which I am very thankful. In 1900 average life expectancy was 47 years of age – meaning I have already enjoyed over a decade of relative bonus time. Unfortunately, most people between 48 and 68 have a rather skewed view of their own mortality. To…

FREDERICK BUECHNER: Amos
WHEN THE PROPHET AMOS walked down the main drag, it was like a shoot-out in the Old West. Everybody ran for cover. His special target was the “beautiful people,” and shooting from the hip, he never missed his mark. He pictures them sleek and tanned at Palm Beach, Acapulco, St. Tropez. They glisten with Bain…

HUMILITY BUILDS THE WORLD’S FINEST GUITAR (part 3)
Coming back to Wayne’s shop after 12 years was no less magical than the first venture. When we got there nothing had changed. Wayne’s a little older, of course, but the quiet beauty and simplicity of the place remains – he looked up from his small chair as though he could have been sitting there…

HUMILITY BUILDS THE WORLD’S FINEST GUITAR (part 2)
Enter my friend Johnny Robinson. He read the book and wound up taking his son Ian down to see Wayne’s shop. Wayne welcomed him like family as he does all visitors. “Sure,” he said, “make yourself at home.” And Johnny did. For the next several hours the Robinson boys marveled as they watched Wayne move…

HUMILITY BUILDS THE WORLD’S FINEST GUITAR (part 1)
Maybe you’ve heard of him and maybe you haven’t but Wayne Henderson is an extraordinary lesson in the living out of humility. Plain. And. Simple. Henderson lives in Rugby VA – population 7. There’s not much there save for a whole lot of Christmas trees being grown in perfectly symmetrical lines on the hills above…

THE MALAISE THICKENS
Watching the arrival of the New Year on TV was interesting. Let’s just say that most of what we witnessed didn’t have a thing to do with anything we hold dear. But entering a new decade added excitement to the moment and the double moniker of “2020” make it feel like a cultural and cosmic…

FINDING THE GOOD IN CHRISTMAS
“Well, that shouldn’t be so hard to do,” you say. I mean it’s Christmas after all – as a minimum gifts are given, people are nicer and there’s generally a bit more forgiveness about. As a maximum one celebrates the gift of God himself in the person of Jesus – born to two hick teenagers…

ETERNITY IS WHAT WE MAKE IT
Yesterday wife Caroline departed South Korea at 9:45 AM on Tuesday Dec 17th 2019 and touched down at Atlanta’s Hartsfield International Airport at exactly 9:10 AM on Tuesday Dec 17th 2019. Careful observers will note that after her 14 hour flight Caro was a time traveler of sorts. By re-crossing the international dateline she not…

The Weight of Duty
(by Kevin O’Shea) Today “I heard his voice”, so here it is. Not like literally, but you know, you hear it. Because when you come to the reality of Jesus and invite him into your life, you get a person, you get a counselor, you do not get religion. You get a relationship you can…

Taking Nothing For Granted
My wife is traveling to Seoul South Korea today to visit son Will who serves there as a Tank Commander / Lieutenant in the U.S. Army. She left a few hours ago and the dogs are already looking a little uneasy. “Is he going to remember to feed us?” This morning over coffee Caro and…

MERRY VESUVIUS CHRISTMAS
We felt the rumblings months ago – the volcanologists were out on the slopes with stethoscopes and magnetometers listening carefully into the depths, and the forecast was for a most excellent eruption. Sales would be up this year – in big box store magma as well as the internet ash cloud. The Pyroclastic flow of…