Category Archives: Uncategorized

Happy New Year.

Time to think about time (past and future). How will I use or waste my time this year? Didn’t make any New Year’s resolutions, in part because I know I will break them. And yet, I am thinking about how I want to be more mindful of my time this year. How will I try to do this?
1. Enjoy life. This means I want to be more intentional about enjoying life with family and friends, to be more focused on the present and less focused on what I have left to do. Sounds hedonistic? That’s okay because God put me in this life to enjoy it fully. We are not merely here to wait for heaven.
2. Love others. Yesterday my pastor reminded us that the only debt we should have is the debt of love (Romans 13). Lord, help me to love my family and think more of their needs and less of my own. [Ironically, as I write this, I’m challenged to deal with a discipline issue with one of my sons–and tempted to overpower him with my “righteous” indignation.
3. Know God. I must admit that mostly I live life as a practical atheist. I think I’m in charge and in control of my own life. Prayer is more for blessing of my desires rather than looking for what God is already doing around me. I want to see him in the little things, the annoying things, the interruptions, the unplanned interactions, etc. I must practice the daily art of longing for God.

—–

Here’s a question for you: Do you feel better or worse at new beginnings? Do you feel better in January than December? How do you view time? Are you an eternal optimist (“It’s gotta get better”)? Fatalist (Not thinking about life, just keep moving)?  Or other.

Traveling from Connecticut to Maine today, from Kim’s family to mine. This makes 17 years of doing this drive. Looking forward to the quiet drive through CT, MA, NH and on to the woods of Maine. Hoping to ponder God’s invasion into our lives through Christ in between the various books on tape our kids will be listening to.

Merry Christmas.

I imagine some might think I’m referring to the smelly aspects of toilet repair but I’m not (though it would add much to the analogy). This last weekend I decided to fix the downstairs toilet. First it was overfilling. A new float was all it needed. Then, it was running every few minutes indicating that the ancient flush valve wasn’t keeping the water from escaping the tank to the toilet. So, back to Lowes to buy a flush valve (my toilet is old so it doesn’t have that flapper thingy). To replace the whole flush valve you have to remove the tank. To remove the tank, you have remove the two bolts holding it on. No big deal…unless they haven’t been removed for 25 years (oh, and there is no space around this toilet for a man to try to get in and work). Started working Friday night. Nada. One bolt off, the other stuck hard. In trying to get it off, I did considerable damage to the rubber washer around the bolt so that the tank would leak profusely if I tried to put it back together. Lots of black smudges on the hands from disintegrating flush valve that wouldn’t come off. No big deal, we have an upstairs bathroom and a pail full of water will flush the toilet if necessary. Oops, Saturday evening we were hosting our bible study’s Christmas party for 17. It had to be fixed during the day on Saturday or… Continue reading →

Just returned home from a jam-packed memorial service for one of the deacons at my church. A man known for vigorous front-row worship, optimistic spirit, willingness to be direct, and love for all people, but especially the marginalized. His bio ought to be next to the dictionary definition of deacon.

Saw lots of acquaintances across the room that I hadn’t seen in a while. A former pastor, friends from another ministry. While I was grieving for the loss of this man, I also kept thinking about the fact that it takes the loss of a man’s life for good people to get together like this. Something’s not right with that.

Well, I take comfort in the fact that we got to share some good worship together. Ron would have reveled in it.

Just spent 30 minutes trying to film a 4 minute commercial for our counseling program. Made me have more respect for our dear president (though I had no teleprompter) who has to speak into the camera for much longer.

I made enough outtakes to last a lifetime. While shooting it I kept thinking of the SNL skits where Dan Aykroyd plays Julia Child (and maybe other bleeding characters too) where she ends up slicing off a finger during the show and uses some rather colorful language but keeps on doing the show. That’s how it felt…

As I left my office last night–tired from a day of clinical work and a little cold from the rapid decline in temperature–I was met with a beautiful sight of fluffy snowflakes swirling around me. It was only a little squall that lasted long enough to blow on the road but not long enough to stick anywhere. But, the beauty of the flakes stopped me in my tracks. Shivering, I watched them blow this way, wheel that way in the spotlight from our building. Somehow I felt energized. Maybe it brings fond memories of Vermont winters. Nah, its just the beauty of God’s handiwork in making snowflakes for our and his pleasure.

I love winter if it includes snow. If we are going to have cold weather, let’s have a foot of snow to enjoy it. If not, let’s move to Florida.

About to hike to the top of Dennis Hill in CT. Not a big hike but  one with friends and food. At the top is the shell of an old house now turned into a pavilion with fire places. Our friends go every year and this year we get to join them. The view should be great. Mass, VT, NY and maybe even NH will be visible.