Two men visiting Hong Kong, noticed the ubiquity of street vendors, all pushing their carts along, pell-mell, in and out of traffic. Attempting to gain the attention of any potential customer, the vendors would shout repeatedly, "Sale! Sale! Good items…
It's already long past departure time. I'm standing near the gate, waiting for the inbound passengers to deplane. There's nowhere to go, and the plane will depart when it departs. Even so, the passengers (including me) are beginning to huddle, as…
On my way to church this morning, in Hayesville, NC, we passed by an open field on Chatuge Lake, a flock of geese relaxing, waiting for their own service to begin. I smiled, wondering if maybe I should stop and…
A fire rages in a two-story house. A young boy's head is visible leaning out a second-floor window. His voice is piercing and plaintive, "Daddy, help me! Daddy, where are you?"Smoke (from first-floor-flames) billows from shattered ground floor windows, now…
My cell phone screen yelps, “excessive heat warning.” And without glasses, I thought it said, “heart warning.” Let’s just say, both are true. It’s triple digits here. That’s very rare and worth paying attention to in our neck of the…
A seminary student body participated in a day of recollection and reflection. As the Seminary President introduced the guest retreat leader—on a beautiful Saturday morning in spring--he apologized to the seminarians, "I'm very sorry for the distraction and the noise."This…
On my walk this morning, I spend some time talking with the geese. Two families heartwarmingly hanging out, nonplussed by an unremitting rain, the goslings nestled together at the edge of the pond. Irv and Dottie’s five are about all…
Sarah is an ordinary woman with a peculiar habit. You see, every Saturday, when the Jehovah's Witnesses make their neighborhood rounds, she invites them in. And begins by saying, "I'm glad to see you. I'm not going to covert, but…
The young couple stands in the long ticket queue at Knott's Berry Farm. Between the ticket kiosk and the main gate their two young boys--maybe ages five and six—are passing the time, playing, waiting for their parents. Their focus of…
In the emergency room, Benny's face is black and blue, caked in dried blood, his eyes pinched shut, his lips swollen and bleeding. In the middle of the night, two men had broken into Benny's home, beaten him severely, and…
