Good reads

I was recently asked what book(s) I would consider vital to the practice of ministry.

Saying good-bye to Boise

Ten years is a long time, yet today it seems to be a fleeting moment. It was ten years ago that we arrived in Boise.

Final Episodes

As a general rule the final episode of popular TV series are a let down. The networks hype them to generate a larger than average audience share that night. If I watch it, I usually feel disappointment with how it comes to an end. That said, the best segment in a series ending is in MASH. I remember watching it in reruns several years ago.

The portion that strikes me as the best is the interaction between the two lead surgeon-characters. One is all for doing the emotional work of saying good-bye and the other refuses to acknowledge the farewell that the end of the war and the parting of their unit.

Steadfastly refusing to say good-bye, it isn’t until the final scene as one speeds away on a motorcycle and the other boards a helicopter that we see the word, Good-bye, spelled out in rocks on the hillside. He did care and he found a unique way to bid farewell to his friend and the viewer alike.

I have come to my good-bye to Boise and the Presbytery of Boise today. I’m actually writing this post in flight from Boise to Detroit via Minneapolis. I’ve tried to say farewell and good-bye to as many people in Boise as I can. I missed as many people as I got to see and tell goodbye because time has a way of racing when you get to the final days and hours. I’d done very well with the stoic farewell until the past two days having convinced myself that there was enough time. I regret that I didn’t get to arrange the rocks in time to spell it out, but I hope you will forgive me for missing you and know that I appreciate the place you have held in my life.

My leaving hit me pretty hard early this morning and the tears would not stop as I lay in bed with my mind replaying the faces and events that have meant the most to me during these past 10 years. I thought I had it under control but then the plane began its speedy launch into the skies. I couldn’t see the word with my eyes on the hillsides or over the desert floor because of the tears. I did see it in my heart and now find the tears flowing once again.

As a final episode, this one won’t get much hype nor will it generate a huge audience share. That’s okay because it is our final episode and you and I are all that matters today.

God bless and Good-bye

On roller-coaster rides: reflections on moving

(Each time an author sets pen to paper or fingers to keyboard, they have an audience in mind.  This post reflects some thoughts on moving.)  

I’ve been riding a roller-coaster of emotions this month. You might have read in an earlier post (see here) that a major transition is happening in our family. We are in the middle of the chaos and disorganized state of packing and preparing to travel in a few days having lived in Boise, Idaho for 10 years and now moving to the Rochester Hills, Michigan area.

…worth a thousand words!

The word – “selfie” – like it or not, has become a part of our cultural vocabulary. “Selfie” refers to what the art world might name “self portrait” or the literary world might call “autobiography.” It is a glimpse into a person’s life at a particular moment in time. We ordinarily encounter “selfies” through social media sites – Facebook, Twitter or Snapchat. Other media sources have captured ordinary and not so ordinary people in the act of “selfie-ing”. (Remember the photo of world leaders taking a selfie?) The term and the medium for sharing is new but the concept is not.

Each “selfie” shared or posted becomes a window to how we see ourselves and our place in the world. One image might show our playful side while another reveals a much darker place within us. Our pose and those who might be included in the picture with us suggest our mood at that particular time and the kind of company-we-keep relationships that are important to us.

They say that a picture is worth a thousand words and so they are. A treasured Christmas gift this year was a trip to coastal North Carolina to visit my mom and brothers and their families. So here is a “selfie” I took…

When I posted it on Facebook, my daughter commented, “that is not a selfie”. Why not? I ask. It says a lot to me and gives those who see it some clues about me.  It may raise questions you want to ask.  It might lead you to conclusions that could be true or false about me.  What you make of it becomes a part of how you know and understand me.

Long live the “selfie” and the thousands of words it is worth!

Coastal retreat

One of the best gifts I received this year came from my family in the form of a plane ticket.

Snow Day

New fallen and falling snow blankets the neighborhood. Snow is a commodity that I’d just as soon forego, yet I live in a state where snowfall becomes critically important throughout the year.

Daily Bread

The first petition of the Lord’s Prayer “give us this day our daily bread” acknowledges just how much we are dependent upon God, but does it merely mean the food on our table.

Commencement season

We’re in the throes of commencement season: the time of year when young adults don gowns and tasseled, mortarboard caps preparing to walk from one school to another, or from school to the marketplace.

Movie choices for a dreary day

It has been a gray, damp and dreary day in Boise – the kind of day you want to spend with a book or lost in a movie.  I’ll admit that this morning I spent my time reading and never got around to the movie.