Tuesday -- This week we’re talking about Mohini, a regal white tiger who spent her final days pacing a twelve-by-twelve foot square, when she had a new and expansive environment.So where to begin? Maybe, all it takes is one step…
Mohini was a regal white tiger. In the 1960s and 70s, she lived at the National Zoo in Washington DC. Most of those years she lived in the old lion house--a twelve-by-twelve-foot cage with iron bars and a cement floor.…
“Every Christmas I used to go home to west Tennessee.” (Fred Craddock tells the story in “Craddock Stories”.)“An old high school chum of mine, I called him Buck, had a restaurant in town, every year it was the same. I'd…
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…
