Blind guides. That’s what Jesus called the scribes and Pharisees, the teachers who had unquestioned authority over the spiritual lives of the Jewish people. I thought of this as I contemplated who has unquestioned authority over me. One who does is Jane, the disembodied voice of my GPS app. At least she did, but after…

There is something wrong with everything. I learned that again this past week when trading vehicles. We bought a new van a year ago but were extremely disappointed with the gas mileage. It seemed as if we were constantly on the lookout for a gas station and spending way too much time in line for…

My friend, Hal, is a noticer. I am not. For example, he and his wife traveled with us this weekend. As we checked into a hotel, he immediately noticed the desk clerk was wearing an unusual watch. I had not noticed anything about the clerk. Hal made a comment and the man’s face beamed (I…

4:00 AM. Deep sleep. BWAH! BWAH! BWAH! BWAH! Alarms are ringing. I’m suddenly awake along with everyone else in the hotel. Guests wearing pajamas and slippers drift down halls, through the lobby, and into the parking lot. Sleepy-eyed parents hug their young and try to reassure them. Fire trucks arrive, adding a festive, red-light show…

I dream of a world committed to the truth. No, that’s a lie. A world like that would mean that I would have to tell the truth and ever since Adam and Eve we humans have been addicted to lies. “The serpent tricked me.” “Eve made me do it.” “It’s your fault, God. You’re the…

I survived Hurricane Milton! What was predicted to be a category 3 storm when it passed over my house turned out to be only a category 1. The strong winds left a mess in my yard, but my home never lost power and it was not damaged. This was not true for everyone, as many…

Power. Everybody needs it, everybody wants it. Politicians are obsessed with it, egoistic heads are filled with it, and the oppressed long to overturn it. As Hurricane Helene stormed onto the Florida coast, marched across Georgia, and tore through the Carolinas, its power destroyed all other powers. Jet engines with over 20,000 pounds of thrust…

After a two month stay in Oklahoma, it is time to get back to my Florida home. Unfortunately, there is a hurricane between here and there, so I am searching for a path through the storm. As I do so, I recognize how closely this trip resembles my spiritual journey. First, is the reality of…

While visiting the Omaha Zoo, I peeked into an enclosure for Blue Dart Frogs, saw nothing, and moved on. Then a young boy stepped up to the same window and exclaimed, “Dad, look at all the frogs!” I decided to go back and take a second look. Sure enough, there in plain sight were at…

Searching for something heavy to hold open the door to his work shed the old man grabbed an espresso machine his son and daughter had given him on his birthday five years ago. Figuring out how to use it had been too much of a challenge, so he had put it back in the box…

Franklin D. Roosevelt stood before the Kiwanis Club of New York in 1921 and said, “It is highly unlikely that an airplane, or fleet of them, could ever successfully sink a fleet of Navy vessels under combat conditions.” Billy Mitchell disagreed and proposed a series of tests, in which bombing raids would be made against…

The colors matched, and the shape looked about right, but the piece refused to fit into the jigsaw puzzle. I turned it in every direction, but no edge would fit. I even tried to pound it into place, which got the yellow flowerpot to attach awkwardly to the head of a dog. I finally gave…

Special. Memorable. Romantic. On the eve of our wedding anniversary, I struggle to plan something worthy of the event. She likes to dress up, but there are no dressy events scheduled this week. A fancy meal? She likes it plain. A trip to Paris? We can’t afford it. What can make tomorrow special? Surprise! Tomorrow…

How many times can you use the word “comfort” in a sentence? Paul is able to pack a sentence with it five times, and then five more times in the rest of the paragraph (2 Corinthians 1:3-7). In contrast, he uses either the word “affliction” or “suffering” seven times in the same four verses. That’s…

This has been a summer of change, and change can be hard. The unexpected death of a sister-in-law, my mother moving to assisted living, and the cleaning out of her home each means that life will never be the same. I liked life as it was. The recent changes leave me with many questions: Will…

The sun rose this morning. I saw it happen and it was magnificent. A huge, illuminated, orange circle emerged from the waters of Lake Tohopekaliga and floated gracefully into the air. The higher it rose, the smaller and less vivid it became. What a show! I’m told it is performed daily. I know what I…

We had been planning this event for months, but whether or not we would see it was in the hands of God. To see a total eclipse of the sun is something a person can see only a few times in their life. I had never seen one, and I was determined not to miss…

My friend Johnny passed away about 30 years ago, but his unique character makes him unforgettable. Johnny loved to fly. During WWII he served as a pilot, and when the war was over, he wanted nothing more than to fly for a commercial airline. Unfortunately, his was the same desire as all the others who…

My computer has been giving me fits today. It keeps stalling, and instead of following my commands will show me how long it can make a circle spin in the middle of the screen. For the record, I hate spinning circles.  As I watched the circle with increasing frustration, I began doing some introspection (after…

A friend made a profound comment to me recently. He said that sin can be fun, but that ultimately this kind of joy is no joy at all because it is anchored in hopelessness. Eat, drink, and be merry for tomorrow we die only works for a short time.  What brings you joy? Is it…