Everybody hurts
“I’ve lost my way.” One man confesses to his friend. “And it’s not good, because I don’t know how much more I can take." “I understand,” his friend says. “I don’t know what is next, but I think I’m close…
Embrace our brokenness
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, they would shout repeatedly, "Sale! Sale! Good items for sale!" So numerous were these vendors that the men found…
Talk to me like I’m a human
The shot is true, a low laser, past an outstretched goalie, into the corner of the net. After he scores, Mr. Parker performs a joy-unrestrained airborne jig, and bumps torsos with another teammate as the fans dance and cheer, GOOOOOOAL! What makes this story so special? Mr. Parker has only one leg. The other was amputated during…
How the story ends
Everyone has a sanctuary. If only in their mind. That space (or place) where we feel grounded, or at home in our own skin. Where there is nothing to prove and no one to impress. For me it is my…
Fear is not the final answer
In the documentary "Last Letters Home," Paula Zasadny, mother of 19-year-old Specialist Holly McGeogh (killed by a bomb in Kirkuk), talks about a visit from marines in dress uniform. "It was the lightest tap on my door that I've ever…
Hope in No Man’s Land
'Twas the night before Christmas, when all through the house. Not a creature was stirring, because I’ve been sick. A little too gloomy? Fair enough. Perhaps needing a healthy dose of anticipatory enchantment? Got it. This I do know; when you are…
Hope makes heroes of us all
Storms. Floods. War. Mad men with guns. The headlines tear at our national emotional quilt. Never Before In The US, blared one. I enjoy an expansive vocabulary. But some days, I don’t have words. And the spiral I take toward…
Our storm home
This refrain will sound familiar. This isn’t the Sabbath Moment I planned to write (as I watch the images of the storm now thrashing Florida). On A Prairie Home Companion, Garrison Keillor tells a poignant story about Lake Wobegon life on the…
Courage to show up
Athena worked as a physician in a large medical center. Athena worked night shift, where part of her job was to pronounce the death of patients. Patients she did not know. A technically difficult task? No, but certainly, at times,…
Small things with great love
When you ride a WA state ferry, you hear a safety announcement as we depart the dock. My favorite line, “…passengers who may have special needs during an emergency, please let a crew member know.” Well, that’s apropos. By my…
