Today I shared my favorite of Jesus’ parables with my students. The reaction was, “Oh hum.” I was literally filled with pain as I saw the lack of response to Matthew 20 where Jesus tells us about the man who paid all his...
When I was a little boy I used to wonder where in China I would come out if I started digging a hole in my yard and burrowed the whole way through the earth. Now as an adult I know where I would come...
Despite all we know about the human mind consciousness is still a mystery. The self and its awareness and interaction with its environment awes us. The mind is incredible. It is small enough to put in a box and yet big enough to...
There is something wonderfully satisfying about chopping firewood. Late summer days are good chopping days. Often I have tried to analyze what is so gratifying about swinging a heavy ax down on a nice piece of hardwood and having it split in two....
We spent the class period in Abnormal Psychology today learning how to use the DSM-IV. Most of my students had never seen one and were fascinated by all the things that can go wrong with a person’s mind. The DSM-IV is a fairly...
In Acts 9 Saul, soon to become Paul, is bashed off his horse by a brilliant light. “Who are you Lord,” he asks? “I am Jesus,” boomed the answer. And so Paul began an incredible journey to find out everything he could...
It’s raining tonight. The sound of the raindrops striking the copper roof of our bay window is mesmerizing. Certain sounds and smells open cobweb covered doors in my mind allowing a flood of memories to rush to consciousness. Tonight the rain on...
I was standing in a grocery store checkout line behind what looked like a three-year-old little girl. She was a Shirley Temple look-alike and with the sweetest smile she asked her mom for a piece of candy. Now, I approve of parents not...
The earth had turned me away from the sun yet another time and the sky was glorious. Mauve clouds were strewn across the western horizon midst a 70-degree summer evening. I was standing on the Old North Bridge at edge of Concord, Massachusetts in...
We have an old cherry tree in the side yard. Its bark is tattered and there are holes in the trunk but it still seems to be pretty healthy for each spring it is laden with the loveliest pink blossoms. One of its...