I have a nice blend-in alto voice that makes a pleasant contribution to our church choir. A woman I’ll call Peggy has a gorgeous soprano voice and is often asked to sing solos. We don’t really look alike, except that we have the same color and length of hair. A few weeks ago as I was coming into church an elderly gentleman who sits near the back of the sanctuary stopped me and said “I want you to know that... Read more
Last week I had the privilege of being one of four keynote speakers for the Young Preachers Festival at Church of the Resurrection in Leawood, Kansas. It was co-sponsored by the United Methodist Church of the Resurrection (COR) and the General Board of Higher Education & Ministry (GBHEM) of the United Methodist Church. It was attended by 150 young United Methodists- preachers or potential preachers. 35% were high school and college students coming to explore their calling; 21% were seminary... Read more
By now the world knows too well the horrible events of Thursday night, July 7, 2016. A peaceful protest of the recent deaths of Philando Castile and Alton Sterling in St. Paul and Baton Rouge was ambushed by a young vet named Micah Johnson. He killed 4 Dallas Police Department police (Patrick Zamarripa, Michael Krol, Michael Smith, Lorne Ahrens) and 1 DART Police officer, Brent Thompson. He injured 11 people. Since then 3 more officers have been killed in Baton... Read more
Our family spent a week in Breckenridge, Colorado last summer. During the week we went on several hikes. The altitude there is almost 10,000 feet. While I had heard people complain about nausea and fatigue due to the altitude, I was pretty confident in my fitness level, given my 30-45 minute daily aerobic workouts. When our oldest daughter purchased some oxygen at an oxygen store downtown for our first hike, I remember thinking – I won’t need that! Until we... Read more
For the past few years, I have had as a goal to declutter our home. My goal is to have our home reflect our current interests. I enjoy the process of decluttering and the order it brings to the home. Decluttering means boxing up the soccer trophies to give to our adult son Matt who now lives in Boulder, CO. It means taking the homecoming mums from our daughter Rebecca’s high school dances to the consignment store. This link explains... Read more
I grew up in Central Pennsylvania, in a small town on the Susquehanna River near Harrisburg. Almost 20 years ago my husband and I and our three children moved to Dallas, Texas. We make several trips to Pa. every year to visit parents and extended family. On our most recent trip I caught an interview on public radio with Cooper Wingert, a local historian and author of the recently published, Slavery and the Underground Railroad in South Central Pennsylvania (Arcadia... Read more
I was at a banquet years ago that focused on celebrating the progress made by a consortium of ministers and churches to combat hunger in the community. I was having a delightful conversation with a pastor seated next to me, Rev. Goodson. The organizer of evening stood up and prayed over our meal and then said, “We are all looking forward to the keynote address by Rev. Goodson following our meal together.” Rev. Goodson’s mouth dropped open, but he quickly... Read more
The theme of holding steady has been in my mind and spirit lately. It seems to be everywhere I look. A few nights ago on the news there was a story about bus driver Logan Tyer in Aledo, Texas. As he was picking up his last few children on the way to school, it started to pour rain, then hail and then the bus started shaking. It was then that Tyer’s training kicked in. He knew he had to pull... Read more
In December I was at World Market doing some Christmas shopping. I browsed through the scarves looking for gifts for my daughters and my son’s fiancée, and through the specialty foods section looking for unusual condiment for my foodie friends. My basket full of purchases, I was in the checkout line when my eye caught the impulse buy rack. This time it wasn’t snickers bars or gummy bears, but a rack of Little Golden Books. Next to the rack of... Read more
Is there any such thing as an unmixed emotion? I wish there were. It would be a lot simpler to be a human being, a lot less tangled up. Looking back over the last several months, I tried to find one. But alas, complexity is all that meets my eye. Our son and his fiancée move to Boulder, Colorado. I’m happy for them because they love the mountains and hiking and skiing. How lovely and simple if that were my... Read more
Knack For Noticing
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