I heard a comedienne one time talking about the problem with her cooking.  She said she was all condiments and no entrées. Every night, as suppertime approached and she peered into her fridge, she asked herself the same question: “How do make an entrée from a fridge full of condiments?” I haven’t been cooking much lately. I chalk it up to being busy. And to teaching until 6 pm some days and then having a long commute home. That shouldn’t... Read more

On a recent flight from Grand Rapids, Michigan to Dallas, I read the lead article in the January 2013 issue of American Way Magazine. It was about the Italian classical music singer Andrea Bocelli. Bocelli has tremendous natural talent, but he also has worked hard to hone and cultivate it. The result is 22 albums with 75 million copies sold worldwide. Celine Dion, with whom Bocelli performed the Golden Globe–winning and Academy Award–nominated duet “The Prayer,” quipped that “If God... Read more

Two summers ago I led a group of students on a travel seminar to South Africa for 2 weeks. Half the time we spent at a convent/ retreat center near Cape Town. My assigned quarters were in the main building, right across from the business office and gift shop. Before I left I bought a beautiful wooden rosary. It was a robust rosary with a cross that fit perfectly in the palm of my hand and golden brown beads, joined... Read more

I got a message on my office voice mail yesterday afternoon from a colleague. She had taken over as the chair of a committee I led last year. “I have a question about what went on last fall so we don’t reinvent a wheel that is already rolling. Please call me so you can fill me in on what happened. “ I was about to go teach a class, so I made a note to call her that night, but... Read more

“What is a proverb you remember from growing up?”I began the morning by asking the thirty people seated around tables with their Bibles and notebooks open. They were from United Methodist, Presbyterian, Church of Christ and Episcopalian backgrounds and had gathered in the fellowship hall at St Paul’s United Methodist Church, Houston for the Perkins Seminary Lay School of Theology. I thought it was pretty amazing that 30 people would give up a sunny Saturday in late January to come... Read more

Airborne! It’s Friday night and I’m in a Holiday Inn in Houston, Texas. Tomorrow morning I’m teaching a daylong course on wisdom for daily living from the Bible at a large United Methodist Church down the street. Sitting on the runway in Dallas waiting to take off earlier this evening, I groaned to myself as the flight attendant got out the seat belt and began to demonstrated how to put it on and take it off. I’m not afraid of... Read more

I just got back from a family road trip to Austin, Texas to visit our oldest daughter Melissa. My husband brought his extensive collection of Christmas music. I debated writing a lighthearted blog about all the people who have made Christmas albums through the years who shouldn’t have. Examples might include N Sync’s “Christmas at Home” Album, John Tesh’s “Romantic Christmas Album,” Mariah Carey’s “Merry (kinda screamy on the high notes) Christmas” Album, and Ally McBeal’s “A Very Ally Christmas”... Read more

I was sitting at my desk in my home office yesterday morning working down my things to do today list.  Job #1 was finishing the syllabus for a course on storytelling I’m teaching next semester. To my usual at home outfit of jeans and t shirt I had added a blue snuggy and an afghan. My attire fit the Advent season. I was swaddled. This because the sudden onset of winter weather in Texas was apparently too much of a... Read more