Lyfting Me Up

Onward and upward…

  • Sleeping in My Own Bed

    Somewhere around day 33 of my most recent trek I said out loud, “I can’t wait to sleep in my own bed”!!! It did not disappoint. I love going on the road, but I love coming home even more. 34 days, six different beds, eight countries, and approximately 11,550 miles later, I sit here writing… Continue reading

  • What is Your Name?

    We found a nice spot in the Tivoli Gardens in Copenhagen to sip our coffee and have a “Danish” in Denmark. A table looking out over a canopy of spring flowers was our perch. A few feet from us was a family of four sharing in their picnic lunch. Mom and Dad and two girls who I… Continue reading

  • Normandy/Omaha Beach

    It was June 6, 1994 and I was sitting in my parent’s living room talking with my Dad. It was the 50th anniversary of the Allied assault on the continent of Europe where Hitler and his Nazi fascist minions were bent on world conquest. By 1943 things were pretty bleak and nothing less than an… Continue reading

    , , , ,

  • 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

    , , , ,

  • 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