Author: lyftingmeup

My Warbling Grandmother Opal—Easter Giggles Easter was a time in The Pumphrey Clan when we all descended to Colorado Springs where my grandparents lived. We would meet at First Christian Church there and occupy at least two pews. The hymns of Easter were very predictable. Lined up in the pew were seven kids as my baby brother Don was be cared for in the church nursery. A standard Easter hymn in Disciples world is “Up from the Grave He Arose”. My grandmother Opal, a preachers kid then in her 60s loved to sing. She warbled… a lot. We went from…

“But one day when you are old others will tie you up and escort you where you would not choose to go”—Jesus speaking to Peter in the 21st chapter of John. I have yet to be tied up, but once again, life is teaching me another lesson in humility. The root word for humility is “humus” (not the dip) but “of the earth”. In other words, to be brought down to the very essence of truth/reality. I remember when the American Disability Act was passed in 1990, I was 41 and I thought “Good for them”. Soon I began to…

You might notice that I did not write last week. I was not suffering from “writers block”, but rather just the opposite. I had too many things to chose from, so I chose none. We took off two weeks ago from California. In one day we went from Los Angels to Las Cruces, New Mexico. We managed to put a big crack in my almost new windshield out in the middle of Arizona. The next morning in the breakfast lobby of the Super 8 we were met with a bus load of migrants who were being moved from El Paso…

Leg #2 of our epic road trip has been10 days at our daughter Stephanie’s— the 50 year old mom of two kids under five. On Thursday we signed up for a snow day on Mt. Baldy. Mt Baldy is located about 1.5 hours outside of LA. All I knew about this outing is that Sofia was planning on making her own snowman with real snow. We loaded up two cars with enough “winter gear” for a Colorado blizzard and headed east out of LA. I had no idea what to expect. I had never driven to a “ski area” by…

Today we have moved from Las Vegas to Ranchos Palos Verdes, California. For the next ten days we will be hanging out in sunny-rainy Southern California with the Don Vitos. They come complete with Sofia and Connor. I call the kids the “Bonus Round” as they were a complete surprise. Today we went to the Chinese Lunar New Year Celebration at the South Coast Botanic Garden. Thank goodness we got there very early and I got a park bench way in the back. I am now beginning to understand why my parents, at these kinds of events, were more interested…

In 1953 I remember my dad and some helpers carrying in a new Crosley TV. Television had come to Pueblo. There was an antenna on top of our house and soon the world came to our living room in black and white. I think my earliest memory was my mom watching Tennessee Ernie Ford singing “16 Tons” while doing her ironing. This was the “Golden Age” of television. Most every Baby Boomer could list three dozen shows that shaped their lives. Wednesday night September 18, 1957 “Wagon Train” made its debut. For eight years and 284 episodes, much of America…

About 30 minutes ago I received the message that my dad’s only brother Paul, died after an amazing 98+ years. It is my privilege to share with you how my almost 75 years with him has help shape me. I was with him not a month ago, where once again, I was touched by a man of incredible brilliance, whose memory belied anything you could describe. From here on out he will be called PO, as that is how he was known for at least the last 65 years. This is not a eulogy, but rather a painful privilege honoring…

I will be hitting the pause button in the “hit parade of my vocational journey”, to go on a seven week trek. Starting in two weeks I will be hitting the road for an 8,000 mile car trip. I love to travel, however, if I never see the inside of Denver International Airport again, I will be happy. It was September of 2021 when I got on a jet to go to Salt Lake City. Somewhere along the way I contracted Covid. After 18 days in the hospital and a fly-by from the Angel of Death, my desire to sit…

Home and Youth Pastor at Mountair Christian Church In November of 1972 I headed back home to Colorado. Within a day I had not one, but two jobs. I was hired to be a Child Care worker at DaVita cottage at the Colorado Christian Home. “The Home” began in the early 1900’s as an orphanage, started by the Christian Churches of Colorado and Wyoming. I have very distinct memories of coming up from Pueblo to have Christmas parties with the kids living there. I went to college at Phillips University with a number of former residents of “The Home”. This…