Frederick Beuchner wrote some time ago that we often limit our understanding of “reality” to thatwhich we can experience with our senses of sight, sound, taste, or touch. If I see it, it’s real.Otherwise, it’s fantasy or imagination. Therefore, wrote Beuchner, we dismiss angels to thedomain of myth or fairy tale. Because we can’t see […]

I recently ran across a list of actual exchanges that have occurred in courtrooms. These werequestions-and-answers between attorneys and people on the witness stand. Let me share just afew (the list is long): Q: “Are you the mother of the defendant?”A: “Yes, I am.”Q: “How long have you known him?”Q: “This photograph, State’s Exhibit No. […]

This morning I arose early, leaving my wife cuddled beneath the covers with our two dogs. Aftermorning meditations, I decided to go straight to the kitchen and begin preparations for tonight’sNew Year’s dinner. (Page does all the more complicated Thanksgiving and Christmas meals,but I get to do New Year’s with its traditional southern fare.) The […]

A couple weeks ago I referred to the “Shameless Commerce” division of these blogs(shamelessly stealing that title from Car Talk). I did so to recommend to those who might beinterested a little Advent/Christmas book I wrote entitled A Long Ago Birth in a Right-Now World.As self-serving as it seems, this issue of Give It Some […]

My wife and I were driving through a neighborhood near ours in early November and noticed the number of houses with Christmas decorations already in place. It used to be that people who decorated on the day after Thanksgiving were thought to be “jumping the gun” a bit. After all, “in days of old” (which […]

I’ve begun listening to Christmas music. On Sirius in my car. On a CD player in my office (I amnow told that having a CD player is a sign of aging – seriously? I still have a box of cassettes!)On Pandora on my computer. As I type this, I am still kicking myself about everything […]

It’s a tough world. The Middle East. Ukraine. The deepening divide of hatred in our country, fueled by self-serving politicians. Poverty. Illness. Grief. Relational struggles. I don’t know a single adult who isn’t bearing up under some sort of emotional weight. Some just hide it better than others.  For those with a sense of history, […]

I was part of a Christmas Eve worship service this week. You’re thinking: “I’m not sure how he pulled that off since it’s still early November.” Well, we filmed a Christmas Eve Service at High Point University. Choirs. Brass bands. Manger readings. A sermon about the innkeeper. Trees, garlands and decorations everywhere. It will be shown […]

I write this as you and I and the rest of the world wait to see if Israel proceeds with a ground invasion of Gaza. It seems to be more a matter of “when” than “if.” The attacks from Hamas were barbaric. As we have heard so often over the past week and a half, […]

I do a lot. Who doesn’t? Of course, at my age people think a person should be “slowingdown.” I’m not quite sure what that means OR why I should do it. If “slowing down” means pacing one’s self, then it makes sense. If, however, it meansbacking away from the things you enjoy and do well […]