Lyfting Me Up

Onward and upward…

  • Little Elves Who Make the Shoes

    I loved childhood fables. I was blessed to have parents who loved to read to their children. We read the classics, fairy tales, novels, “The Silver Sword” a story of children surviving the Holocaust. As a narrative theologian/preacher it has given me a store house to draw from. One of the stories I remember: A… Continue reading

  • The Ocean

    I was nine years old the first time I met the Ocean. My dad, who was born in Bellingham, Washington, and lived there for the first 12 years of his life,  was like a salmon who had to return to his birth waters as often as he could. We packed up the family and drove… Continue reading

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  • Europe by Ship—64 Years Later

    In the Spring of 1965 an announcement went out over the East High PA.  “We are announcing that we are accepting applications for our 1965-66 American Field Service exchange student host family”. I remember thinking, “Wow that might be fun but they would never pick my family”. That night at dinner I don’t know what… Continue reading

  • Leave the Funeral Suit in the Tomb

    “Then Simon Peter came, following him and went into the tomb. He saw the linen cloths lying there, and the face cloth, which had been on Jesus’ head, not lying with the linen cloths but folded up in the place by the head”. Ok, it’s Easter weekend and I will be on a ship headed… Continue reading

  • Johnny Rocket RIP

    Some folks call themselves cat lovers, or dog lovers. As for me my life has been graced by both. Since Smiley died in 2000 I have been limited to “grand—pets”. Each one of them has held a special place in my heart. There was Santi, Che, Maggie, Lenny (Kravitz) the black cat, Ziggy, June, Emmett,… Continue reading

  • DETOURS

    It’s good to be back home. We went to my grandson Conor’s third birthday in Palos Verdes, California on St. Patrick’s Day. That is not unusual in and of itself. What was a bit more fun, rather than the two day drive to LA though Utah, was how we got there. I thought I wanted… Continue reading

  • “Frankly My Dear, I don’t give a Damn”

    Those words echoed across cinema goers’ psyche as Clark Gable spoke them in “Gone With the Wind” on December 15, 1939. The movie debut broke all box office records. It was a line spoken by Rhett Butler to Scarlet O’Hara at the end of the movie. A line that pushed the boundaries of Hollywood’s production… Continue reading

  • Schadenfreude

    I took two years of German in high school. Occasionally I will remember a word or a phrase in German which works. I am not sure I learned the the word schadenfreude from Mr. Rendon, but it is one of the words that does not have its equal in English. It literally means pain joy—taking… Continue reading

  • Charles Batman

    There is nothing colder than a North wind sweeping across the Oklahoma plain in January. It bites, cuts, chills and can seem relentless. I served for five years as the Chaplain at the Enid State School for the 1000+ residents that, to one degree or another, were classified as “developmentally disabled”. We as a society… Continue reading

  • Love from an Old Lady with Blue Hair

    This past week I have been remembering the “church ladies” who helped to form me. This was prompted by a video my friend Arn sent, called “Church Ladies”. It was full of images from the South of the women who shaped a sense of love and ministry. It was both very funny and poignant. Recently… Continue reading