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Go, Total Stranger, Go!!
Sometimes encouragement comes from entirely unexpected sources. A few years ago, four friends and I embarked on a mini-adventure, each running a 5ish-mile leg of the White Rock Marathon relay. Mind you, my visions of the day and the reality of the morning were quite different. While training, I enjoyed either sunny skies or the comforts of a temperature-controlled workout room. I didn’t anticipate shivering outside for two hours in less-than-ideal weather conditions. Standing in the pouring rain waiting for that baton, out of my blue lips came these words (said with emphasis): “This is STUPID. Why did I sign up for this??” I had distant hope that I would…
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The Rescue of “Emmanuel” and a Christ Play
The days before were particularly cumbersome and discouraging, pressure filled and crowded. It was easy to become myopic, self-focused and SO tempting to giving into being overwhelmed. Circumstances dominated, recent concerns trumped joy and the slithering down into the place of “why try?” was imminent. I hate that place. So, early that morning, when I walked into our kitchen and checked the emails, while the water was boiling for tea, I was not expecting anything more than my status quo of struggle. The crisis of a compromised pregnancy and delivery was still happening thousands of miles away for our dear friends recently returned to their home country. I read through…
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The Power of “Withness”
The day after Easter, our beloved Golden Retriever Calvin, only seven years old (that’s mid-life in dog years) had to be put to sleep because of cancer that had been sucking the life out of him. When our son and his wife moved from Texas to California, they were forced to leave him behind because their housing does not allow dogs, and Calvin became my husband’s dog. Calvin was the exact same shade of red as our Irish Setter, who died seventeen months ago. When we had to put Pele down, there was another big red dog in the house. But not yesterday. Or today. And it’s painful. Ray has…
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What Can We Make of Jesus, but God Incarnate? (A Christian Conservative Goes to College, part 17)
“I tell you the truth,” Jesus answered, “before Abraham was born, I am!” (John 8:58).[1] The World Religions’ Professor’s assignment read as follows: What’s the best word to describe Jesus? Prophet, Avatar (of the Hebrew God), or Bodhisattva? Well, I was not going to be forced into the professor’s definitions….
