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“You are going to feel like hell if you never write the stuff that is tugging on the sleeves of your heart — your stories, visions, memories, visions and songs. Your truth, your version of things, your own voice. That is really all you have to offer us. And that’s also why you were born.”
Anne Lamott

“You are going to feel like hell if you never write the stuff that is tugging on the sleeves of your heart — your stories, visions, memories, visions and songs. Your truth, your version of things, your own voice. That is really all you have to offer us. And that’s also why you were born.”
Anne Lamott

Catching Up a Bit

George 0 Comments

Before I catch up on what’s been happening with me, I am watching the 9/11 remembrances on TV. Even 10 years later, it is hard to comprehend. The idea that a few fanatic terrorists can reek that kind destruction is frightening.

Beyond the loss of lives and the destruction of property, the events of that day have shaped our world in ways that I could not imagine. I thought about this as we traveled by air last week. The personal inconveniences are inconsequential compared to the residual costs, not only fiscally, but culturally and spiritually. It remains to be seen whether this nation will be able to rise to our former heights.

Ann and I have been pretty busy lately. We started a new project. We are building an additional bathroom located in what we will be calling our “mud room” (we think that sounds more sophisticated than laundry room). Of course, like all these kinds of projects, it will trigger additional changes. I just hope that I have enough time left to get it all done.

Thursday grandson Tyler had back surgery. I am glad to report that all indications are that it was successful and Tyler is recovering quickly. We expect him to be back in shape to wrestle before the first of the year.

Last week we traveled to New Mexico to meet Ron and Jean Like, our good friends from Kansas. We spend three night in Chimayo located between Santa Fe and Taos. I had only driven through New Mexico previously. I was impressed by the countryside and the people of New Mexico. I would enjoy visiting there again. I think I have a better understanding of why they call it the land of enchantment.

Under a Microscope

George 0 Comments

No one wants to be examined under a microscope. The results are never flattering. Every so often, TV networks will do an expose of hotel or food services etc. by using microscopic examinations that reveal horrible realities that launch the squeamish into hysterical paranoia. Personally, I prefer to be blissfully ignorant.


I have concluded that a significant difference between the age we are living in and previous times is that we are living under a microscope. Every aspect of our lives, from the most personal (think ED commercials) to the global (ie a live video of a soldier in Afghanistan dying from mortal wounds to a emaciated child dying before our eyes in Sudan). I am hard pressed to think of any subject or circumstance that is not exposed to the possibility of immediate and unvarnished microscopic examination.


We are being subjected to realities that heretofore have been hidden or at least viewed in the macro. As a result, society is becoming more and more paranoid. I remember very well as a young child the door to door Kirby vacuum cleaner salesman that came to our home. His sales pitch was centered in a demonstration, not so much of the vacuum cleaner itself, but a demonstration of the need for his product. First, he fitted the cleaner with a special filter and proceeded to vacuum our mattresses. Examination of the filter revealed a horrible collection of who-knows-what. Next he convinced us to allow him to use his special attachment to vacuum our heads. The results captured in the filter were revolting. Needless to say, he made a sale. The price of the Kirby was very expensive, but there was no way, knowing the condition of our mattresses and heads, that we could not purchase it.


Our world has changed dramatically, primarily because of technology. Adopting a “don’t ask, don’t tell” policy is no longer a viable option. Virtually everything is open to examination. It is increasingly difficult to find balance in our lives. Now that we know, we are subject to fear, paranoia and over reaction. The costs are huge.


But there is goodness in the ability to examine our world through a microscope. There are real dangers and problems that are concealed and covertly maim and destroy. Their exposure is a catalyst for change.


What are we to do? I’m not exactly sure. It is clear to me that our increasingly exposed world requires more wisdom and courage than ever before. Much to think about.

Letting Go of the Past

George 0 Comments

I have started a new project. We are doing some renovation of our laundry room. A consequence of that decision is that I am going to have to revise the storage closet off my office. That, in turn, will require disposing of some files and papers. Some of the accumulation is “important” … receipts, tax returns, manuals, etc. but mostly they are class notes, sermons, lesson plans from thirty plus years of study and teaching at work and church.

In the past, when presented opportunity to toss this stuff, I have deferred. After all, some day, someone will carefully sort through it all and discover the hidden “gems” scattered throughout. The problem is that my storage closet is like the abandoned gold mines of the west. There may be gold in there but the cost of extracting it is too high.

I am reading the novel “Gilead” currently. The central character is an aged pastor writing to his son as his death nears. As muses over his sermon material from fifty years of preaching, he has this to say:

It’s humiliating to have written as much as Augustine, and then to have to find a way to dispose of it. There is not a word in any of those sermons I didn’t mean when I wrote it. If I had the time, I could read my way through fifty years of my innermost life. What a terrible thought. If I don’t burn them someone else will sometime, and that’s another humiliation.

I cannot avoid the humilation of having to dispose of what I have imagined was of importance but I can avoid the humilation of someone else disposing of it.