Sometimes, an event, or several together, interrupt the life we’ve crafted, the life we enjoy. Sometimes, one that involves our bodies. One that can bring negative and positive changes. Maybe you can identify. For 75 years, my body has treated me well, much better than I have on occasion done to it. A decent athlete—rarely picked first on choosing teams, but usually second or third. Decent strength—a USC football offensive lineman couldn’t pin me in arm wrestling. Decently healthy and functional, playing competitive football and softball into my late 50s. Riding 1,080 miles on a motorcycle in 16 hours at age 70. Honestly, I felt more pity than empathy for those not with those attributes. Yeah, a sin that I feel no pride about. Then, in a few months, life interrupted with…
Read MorePlan for Plan B
Over the last five years or so, Brad proved himself as “the Wizard of Waze” on our Gray Hogs trips—he’d enter our ultimate destination, calculate in any traffic issues, add in some stops along the way, and we’d blissfully follow his lead, never worrying nor looking at our maps, just riding. We got spoiled, until…
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image from commonsensemedia.org
Friends With Benefits
Friends with benefits. This common term describes “a friend with whom one has sex without a romantic relationship or commitment” (dictionary.com). But you already knew that, right? And while the term is fairly recent, it’s gone by a number of names for quite some time. I’m sure you already know them. But don’t expect…
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Try the Unexpected
We purchased this Hoover vacuum over 25 years back, when just about all our floors had carpeting. So it got a lot of use, with only a few minor repairs. One of those occurred last week, when the rubber drive belt connecting the shaft to the roller shredded itself. Wearing an N95 COVID mask, I picked up a new belt at a local store, and utterly failed to get the new one on. Before, I’d slide out the roller, put the belt on it, then use a screwdriver to pull the belt onto the shaft. Well, either the rubber is more stiff than before, or my hand strength isn’t quite what it was. Assume…
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Picture of NYC by Arcaid Images
A Humbling Trip
When surrounded by works of mankind, we can easily impress ourselves—with ourselves. Last fall Sheila and I make an east coast trek, and the skyscrapers of New York City astounded me. Towering buildings based on solid bedrock. Every square inch seeming used. Honestly, I felt pretty proud to be part of the human race that could craft such a place. But pride…
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image from NBC News
I Am The Greatest!
When we hear the line, “I am the greatest,” many think of Muhammad Ali. Even before some current politicians. He crashed into our awareness when he took the Olympic gold medal in 1960 and smashed the invincible Sonny Liston for the heavyweight championship in 1964 (above pic). This remarkable athlete and poet described himself as “pretty,” loved the limelight and adulation, and even took on the US government and won. Quite a man, who later fought Parkinson’s until his death in 2016. But before we mourn his and other’s lack of humility, maybe we need to look inward a bit. Don’t we all face the same issue? What caused Adam and Eve to change the outcome of the world? They wanted importance and power. What caused Cain to kill Abel? He wanted to do things as he desired. And as I studied “Just Jesus” this week, another example crushed me.
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The Worth of a Person
The time arrived to sell my first car, a yellow 1964 Falcon Futura, much like the one above, so to save every cent for the next vehicle I consulted a friend in the car business. I wanted a dollar figure on its worth, but he surprised me, "Tim, the car is worth as much, and no more, than you can get a person to pay for it." The implications of that concept have followed me for decades, and they directly impact the level of our intimacy with God. Our intimacy directly connects to the depth of our connection.
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Dualing I Pods
Funny how you can know a guy for over 50 years, take dozens of multi-state bikes trips together for multiple decades, and not know some of his darkest secrets. Take Jerry for example. After all this time, only on our last trip to Oregon and Washington and down the California coast did I discover the depths of his depravity. To me, one of the best features of our trips is to enjoy the ride and the country and to ponder it in its natural silence. Kinda like the Simon and Garfunkel song, "Sounds of Silence." Now, I knew Jer took an I Pod on our rides, which I ...
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