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Identity Theft
The Self is not a gift that one can give to another Rather, it is a thief’s relic we must take for ourselves in order to someday be ourselves.
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bellis perennis
Her only adornments are hope and innocence An instinctive modesty, not a conscious constraint
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For Sylvia
I am not ready for anything to happen
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The Christmas That Almost Wasn’t
December 26, 2018. Yesterday could have been a very different Christmas. 21 days ago, I tried to take my own life. I’m writing about it for several reasons. First, it has become exhausting trying to keep track of who “knows” and “doesn’t know” what happened, thus creating multiple opportunities for awkward questions and conversations. For…
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Blessings and Breakage – Thoughts on Christmas and 2017
Blessings and breakage live perilously close to one another. At times, blessings and breakage intertwine, to the point where you often can’t tell one from the other, if, in fact, they are not already one and the same.
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What am I DOING here?
I have long had a personal distate for the interview question, “Where do you see yourself 5 years from now?” and my wife will also tell you I have a general aversion to goal-setting as a rule. It’s not that I am afraid to set or commit to a goal, it’s just that so often where…
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When You Start, it’s Just a Pile of Wood.
In order to become something useful or beautiful, that pile of wood has to go through a transformative process that only a true woodworker understands. And for this craftsman, that process becomes very personal, with the wood an extension or representation of myself, going through life, going from a pile of wood, to becoming something…
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Nobody Knows
“Nobody knows the trouble I’ve seen Nobody knows but Jesus Nobody knows the trouble I’ve seen Glory Hallelujah Sometimes I’m up and sometimes I’m down Yes lord, you know sometimes I’m almost to the ground O yes, Lord, still Nobody knows the trouble I’ve seen Nobody knows but Jesus Nobody knows the trouble I’ve seen…
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Pride. No Prejudice.
It’s June 16 – just past halfway through Pride Month 2017. If you are a Facebook friend of mine, you’ve noticed a steady stream of pictures and stories oriented around the struggles (and victories) of many in the LGBTQ community, many of whom I count as friends as well as brothers and sisters in Christ.…
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Man Learns of His Heresy in Friends’ Bathroom
I’m a bathroom reader. My own bathroom is well-stocked with reading materials, and I’m always pleased when I use a host’s bathroom and find it replete with “stuff” to read. I’m not fussy – give me a Reader’s Digest, a Guideposts – heck, I’d probably read a Watchtower if it were there. I’ve even been…
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Count Your Blessings?
To start the new year, one of things my church is doing is having each of us pull a star from a basket with a word on it and asking us to adopt it as our “word of the year” on which to meditate, study, reflect, etc. (the first one I pulled didn’t have a word…
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T+ 5 Days: Recalibration
Those of you who know me or follow my blog know I was disappointed with Tuesday’s election. I thought then (and still do) that the electorate had made a mistake. My initial Facebook “statement” follows: So, anyone who has followed my posts knows I am disappointed this morning. I think America has made a wrong…
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Decision 2016, What’s a Progressive to Do?
I’ve got three half-written blog drafts in my box, because I keep thinking “I’m going to write something that’s not political.” Alas, those entries will have to wait, because I need to get political, and I’ve promised myself and others I would keep it off of Facebook. I’ve long considered myself an independent. Over the years,…
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The Curse of Comparison
So. Several things are on my mind. First (and second, and third), this summer has wrought HUGE changes to our cultural cloth: Marriage equality, the resurgence of racism, The DONALD (for Pete’s sake), the insidious encroachment of ISIS, ISIL, the so-called Islamic State, etc., the tenuous balance of the Chinese economy (and, I dare say, government)…
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Isn’t it Ironic? Getting beneath the surface of the RFRA debate
Some of you who know me have heard my rant on Alanis Morisette’s 1996 hit, “Ironic”, where she sings about a lot of things that are NOT ironic. Rain on your wedding day? Not ironic – kind of a bummer. A black fly in your chardonnay? Gross, but not ironic. Good advice that you just…


















