An American traveler planned a long safari to Africa. He was a compulsive man, loaded down with maps, timetables, and agendas. Coolies had been engaged from a local tribe to carry the cumbersome load of supplies, luggage and "essential stuff."On…
Tuesday -- This week we’ll be talking about seeing the “gifts in the present”. And I’m smiling as I type this, because seeing the gifts is not always an easy thing to do. Sometimes, quite the opposite. Like last night,…
A pious man heard God. “Tomorrow night I’m going to visit your home,” the voice told him.The man pushed aside his predictable hesitation, and rolled the dice in favor of belief. After all, it’s not often you get a personal…
This week we are invited to carry—and spill—the light. We learn this from the courage of a woman in The Church of the Exceptional, and from the light she carried. Her story from Jimmy Carter’s book, Our Endangered Values. …
Have you heard of the Church of the Exceptional? (A non-denominational, interracial ministry devoted to ministering to the physically and mentally handicapped in the area around Rutherford County, NC.)In 1974, then Governor Jimmy Carter and Dr. Norman Vincent Peale were…
Tuesday -- There’s a story about a teenage boy mysteriously losing weight.His doctor, stumped by the symptoms, huddled with several other caregivers to decide which medical tests to run. There was no shortage of assessments and opinions, and quarrels about…
“I have never been lost,” Daniel Boone once said about exploring remote areas. “But I will admit to being confused for several weeks.”That’ll preach. And I will admit to the same. And it is no surprise, given the world in…
Tuesday -- “Sometimes the world tries to knock it out of you. But I believe in music.” August RushAnd yes, music is a part of our DNA, “woven into the very structure and sensorium of our bodies” (thank you, Maria…
“Nothing can dim the light which shines from within.” Maya Angelou reminds us. And I say, Amen.And yet, darkness is still very real. Or maybe, it’s just that some people still don’t trust that the light is there. (Okay, maybe…
Tuesday -- This week… To love at all (anything in life) is to be vulnerable. I get it. I do.What troubles me, is that when I feel unnerved or unsettled or afraid, I become wary of the very gifts—thoughts, feelings,…