For over a year now, we’ve battled COVID, with a variety of strategies. One of the more controversial one deals with wearing masks, should we or shouldn’t we? If we’ve been fully vaccinated or not? Yeah, it’s partisan and often judgmental. But perhaps we can use COVID masking, which many of us disagree on, as a metaphor for a deeper spiritual truth. One I suspect we may also disagree on. However, this one…
Read MoreGear Up!
My body regularly tells me I’ve played a lot of football. Pickup tackle games in HS and college and later, wearing just T shirts and shorts. Intramural in college, even in a competitive flag league into my mid-50s. But the pic above depicts a different way to play football. In my mid-40s, Temecula had the Over the Hill Pigskin Shoot Out, where guys over 30 strapped on pads and played for charity. The pic above was the first game—and the first time I ever put on pads to play tackle. In that first game I played tight end, and while going out on a pass route I got…
Read MoreIn Need of Repair?
Not long after we moved to Temecula in 1988, the neighbor above us installed a cedar fence at the top of our slope on the property line. A pretty nice job too! As it aged over the years, we did some minor repairs—putting in supports for some posts, laying new 2X4s above some broken rails, and replacing some pickets. But about a year ago I realized it needed more major repairs. Three of the seven posts had rotted out, more rails needed replacing, and 40 of the 120 pickets had to be replaced. A fairly normal job, until…
Read MoreSuckers
Word on the streets around the cafes and sporting goods stores of Bishop was that big trout were biting on the Owens River near Big Pine. So for one day Dad and I abandoned our beloved streams for the slow-moving Owens, in our never-ending search for more and bigger trout…and newer waters. We followed the landmarks and walked along the eastern bank to a promising bend with the river about five feet below us, and threw our lines in. Not too many casts and I tied into a big one, likely bigger than anything I’d seen Dad catch. I nursed the hog closer, fearing he could flop free in raising him with the limber fly rod. Gently yet swiftly I landed him on the bank—the…
Read MoreBack to Worship
About 2 months ago, our church re-opened with outside worship. That first week in the tent brought me to tears as we sang “All my life you have been faithful, all my life you have been so, so good” with 100s of fellow followers and our family taking up an entire row. This is what we were made for: gathering to praise God with one another. Two weeks ago we moved inside, and…
Read MoreBad News
Bad news has abounded of late, hasn’t it? COVID: with over one-half million deaths. Political division: where Christians question the faith of fellow followers who disagree on political issues. An armed mob at the Capitol. Immigrant families being separated at the border, still. Persecution for people of faith: with Christians and adherents of other faiths being imprisoned or killed for their beliefs worldwide. A culture that has abandoned a common morality. Hope for a better future seems pretty dim. So how do we respond? Some…
Read MoreA Time to Tweak
We moved back to our Temecula house almost six years ago. After purchasing it in 1988 and living in it until 2009, we then rented it out for the next six years and moved to Thousand Oaks for a job, only to return to our overused rental house. Among the many renovations, we completely redid the entire back yard, keeping only the concrete sidewalk and pad. Some of you followed those changes. I most enjoyed putting in a waterfall and pond, and we’ve enjoyed hours around it with a drink and company or a book or just the two of us. But…
Read MoreCostco and the Lord's Prayer
Costco and I have a love/hate relationship: I love their quality, prices, and return policies…and hate the crowds from so many others who also love those. Last week we had to make a special trip—our church closed the doors to worship this week so we could “Serve our City,” or show the love of Jesus with no strings attached. From the 100s of projects, we chose helping replenish the local food pantries. As we walked the main entry aisle, Sheila remarked that they had moved…
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