lenten journal
Tonight I am grateful that grace abounds. I have been in Nashville since Friday for several book-related events, most all of which have centered around gathering with friends and most all of them have gone late into the evening before the conversations stopped -- or at least before I quit
lenten journal
I am in Asheville, North Carolina staying with friends and will drive over the mountains to Nashville tomorrow for some book events. The evening has been filled with good food and conversation. here we are again old friends making new memories talk with your heart full And now I will
lenten journal
I love a good conversation among friends. We make each other better when we challenge, when we question, and when we dream -- together. My post from last night brought three notes my way that kept me thinking and praying about what needs to happen here in our town, across
lenten journal
Tonight was the third in our series of gatherings at church to look at what we can do about poverty in Durham. This week’s session was called “Beyond Charity: Addressing Causes and Empowering People.” We heard from three different groups: Circles of Support, which looks to create support teams
lenten journal
I spent two and a half hours today with the allergist. (Hang in there -- I don’t intend to talk about this for the rest of Lent, I promise.) Since I had done without my medications for a week, I was able for them to do some testing on
lenten journal
After writing about allergies, I went to bed with metaphors on my mind and woke up thinking about music as both metaphor and soundtrack for life, or at least those thoughts were running in the background. Before I left for church, I listened again to Scott Simon’s interview with
lenten journal
I go to a famous physician I sleep in the local hotel From what I can see of the people like me We get better but we never get well -- Paul Simon, “Allergies” My week has been marked by my allergies, and in particular preparing to go to see
lenten journal
south of here the boys of summer are planting the seeds of spring thawing out their throwing arms weeding out all the errors they can practicing and pitching, stealing a little extra daylight each evening in a month they will head north (at least the ones I care about) along
lenten journal
As I have gone about my day, the story weaving in and out of all of it has been the Pope’s retirement. To listen to the reporters, this is a day like none other in history. For the first time in six hundred years, someone has ceased to be
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The important thing is that you have a lot of skin cells. Of those billions of skin cells, between 30,000 and 40,000 of them fall off every hour. Over a 24-hour period, you lose almost a million skin cells. Where do they all go? The dust that collects
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After a second day of rain here in Durham, something struck me I had never thought of before: the Gospel writers don’t say much about the weather. I even spent some time doing a little research. Other than the “windstorm” that swept across the Sea of Galilee (Luke 8)
lenten journal
My friend, Nathan Brown, is a poet and musician who was named the Poet Laureate of Oklahoma last fall. During December, as we dealt with the impending doom of the Mayan calendar, I dubbed him the Poet Laureate of the Apocalypse. He continues to be a good friend and a