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  I am going to get my red car inspected next week and do a little Lyft driving from my new perch in the ‘burbs’.  But this week my topic comes from the 3rd week of Advent, where we look at Joy.  Joy just happens, you can’t manufacture it, drink it or smoke it and certainly not sell it or buy it.  Joy happened today when Todd (youth pastor at Greeley FCC) and three youth show up this morning to help us unpack.  You can now see our floor.  Last week Mary Kay went shopping for things like shoe storage,…

Story number three from my days of the Enid State School Chaplaincy.  We had five worship services every Sunday.  Each one was tailored to a certain population of the institution.   Music was central to connecting these folks, whose sense of the holy was not about what they knew, but more about what they felt.  God was less of an idea and more of an expression of heart.  We worked hard at making all of the senses connect with worship, which often meant we used bubble machines, balloons and a collection of musical play-along gadgets like tambourines, bells, clackers, and…

The challenge of writing from this context is that I have spent 40 years in pastoral ministry and two years driving for Lyft.  On this six week sabbatical from Lyft driving, I am trying to honor the fact that my blog audience is a ‘non church’ gig.  I have very much enjoyed the challenge of writing narratives to a wide ranging audience.  However, when it comes Advent I can not resist.  So I have made my semi-apology to those of you who have good reasons to avoid preachers… I get it.  My experience is that the vast majority of the…

Be careful about what you say you will never do again. Holy Moly!  I am moving and the reasons are not for this space, but they were very thoughtful, given where we are on the actuarial chart.  I called our friend Barbara, who is an awesome agent.  I told her I was hoping that we could find a ‘ranch style’ patio home north of I-70.  We are buying the very first place we looked at, and the very first person who looked at our place is buying ours.  I have moved over 25 times in 68 years.  Let me repeat…

From 1976-81 I served as the Senior Chaplain of the Enid State School. It was a time in our history when most folk with developmental disabilities where kept away from living in our communities, and for lack of a better word, they were institutionalized. It is easy from our current perch to caste judgement on this reality but the facts were that we, as a society, were just doing the best we could. I remember very fondly the time that I served with these remarkable folk. In 1976 I went to Dr. Fred Craddock, Dean of Phillips Graduate Seminary, to…

For the next few weeks I am taking time off from driving for Lyft.  Simply, about three weeks ago Mary Kay and I said to each other “We might need to relocate”.  This was pretty much a spontaneous moment which usually means “something bigger than me is trying to tell me something”.  We have loved living in our loft condo at Washington Park.  If you would have told me that we would leave this place for the burbs I would have laughed.  The reasons are unimportant but the reality is, as my friend Jim said, “Hell would be moving every…

I am writing this from a McDonalds located about 20 miles north of Denver.   It is 8:52 am. and I have been driving for a bit over 2 hours.   I have logged about 20 rides in the last week and I have at least five good stories.  I headed out in the dark and spent the first 20 minutes listening to the radio.  My ‘ping’ woke me up.  Which brings me to ride #: I picked him up at the McDonalds at Alameda.  He hopped in the front and said “I just pulled a graveyard, I am ready…

I picked her up in the heart of the Baker neighborhood.  She came walking out to the car with a radiant smile on her face.  The destination address was on West Colfax about 20 minutes away.  She got in the back seat and quickly asked about my day and “Do you enjoy driving for Lyft”?   I gave my usual, “I love it, I’m not doing it as much as I used to. I still need to do it when I can, just to keep me grounded. I really don’t do it for the money, I just find that I…

It seems every year I live I become more like my parents than the year before.  Nowhere does that become more evident to me than when I am driving for Lyft.   When my dad Bill retired at age 62, he found the volunteer job of his dreams.  He went to work for the Pueblo Chamber of Commerce at the Southern Colorado Information Center.  It was housed in a red caboose which sat at the intersection of Highway #50 and Interstate 25.  Travelers from all over the world 🌎 would stop 🛑 there and ask for directions, suggestions, have a…

One of the fun tasks of a Lyft driver is taking folks to their expatriate sports team hang outs.  With 350 people a day moving into Denver, they bring with them their Penn State, Crimson Tide, University of Texas fandom.  There is a bar in Denver for about any team.  I am not sure about Slippery Rock (The Lions are 6-0 for the first time since 1962), but I am sure you could find a gathering of Toledo ‘Mud Hens’ on most any Saturday.    Last week I picked up Kerry who was let’s say, ‘a bit wound up’ as…