Be Careful of What You Ask For

Driving with Dad up Highway 395, along the imposing eastern face of the Sierra Nevada mountains, seeing their peaks piercing the sky, their almost plumb plummet from the crest to the valley floor, and exposed granite, intrigued me. Yeah, “God created it all,” but the how did more than puzzle—it astounded. Some decades later a good friend, Dick Markano, a UCLA geology grad, led a group from our church into the Sierra backcountry, and an unintended geology lesson emerged with my questioning. That tantalized me, and I yearned to take a night course on basic geology. Yet that desire was too far down the priority list to punch through into action.

Then, almost by chance...

 Read More

Ride Relaxed

On our second Last Trip (a story for another time), Jerry and I planned to meet in Ogden on Sunday, May 19, 2024, so the day before at 7 AM I pulled out of Temecula on I-15 heading north with reservations in Richfield, Utah, about 560 miles away. An easy jaunt for my Honda CTX1300, and doable on the 76-year-old body. A brief gas stop in Barstow led to lunch in Vegas…a decent sandwich shop next to the gas station. Double dipping, I guess. A lot of deserts until I passed St. George at 400 miles, with just over two hours to go. But after Cedar City the clouds began rolling in, some white, some pretty dark. From some I could see the rain slapping the ground, then the road turned away for ten miles, and I thought…

Read More

Spiritual Plans

Plans sometimes get changed. Radically. My October Sierra plans were to fish Rock Creek until late Friday, then to head home and miss the Friday traffic. The snow in the pic above forced a revision. Waking to 2" of snow in my campground made outdoor cooking problematic, so I threw all my wet gear loosely into the back of the truck and headed home. Early. Not much later I walked into a Mickey D's in Lone Pine for coffee, only to meet a middle aged guy in shorts and a hoodie who asked…

Read More

Hug Your Cactus

Most Unconventional posts begin with a story or question, but let’s open with an extended quote by Robert Downey from a recent American Cinemateque ceremony. While receiving an award, Downey, well-known not just as Iron Man but for his previous struggles with substance abuse, gave some wisdom we can all use, in speaking about Mel Gibson:

“When I couldn’t get sober, he told me not to give up hope, and he urged me to find my faith. It didn’t have to be his faith or anyone else’s, as long as it was rooted in forgiveness…

Read More

Trusting God’s Character

This time of year is my “Ebenezer stone:” a reminder of God’s care and goodness in my life. You see, three years ago I was fighting for my life. In the spring and summer of that year I experienced bizarre symptoms. Doctors had no answers, and as the months passed, I grew devastatingly ill. Sadly, the decline in my health meant leaving my profession because I was in constant pain, was bedridden, and could not eat. In my mind I was useless, and in my misery, I wished for death. I never once questioned my Heavenly Father’s goodness, although…

Read More

God Answers Prayer, But...

Too often, my prayers seem to bounce back from the ceiling. Not sure about you, but I’m often left puzzled at how God answers prayers, or doesn’t. I know the cliché: he says yes, no, or later. However, a transcendent God shouldn’t, and can’t, be simplified into a three-option cliché. Maybe we can find more nuances in his responses. Maybe we need to…

Read More