Stay Ahead of the Pain

Last year featured a total knee replacement for my left knee, Experienced friends and medical folks offered advice about exercises for strength and flexibility, and the most helpful: stay ahead of the pain with the doctor’s schedule for taking oxycodone. Or, don’t show your toughness by waiting until you can’t take the pain, but follow the doc’s recommendation for time intervals.

Three months later, Rich and I cruised through CO to Taos, NM. I had some concerns and applied that mantra to the ride. My bike has 5 different positions for my legs, and in addition to standing on the pegs. Typically, I would ride…

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Yes, Aliens Exist. I Have Proof

Thousands of crystal white stars pierced the stark darkness of the night sky above the Owens Valley, but jammed together so densely that you couldn’t stick a needle in the dark without hitting white. Sprawled out on our sleeping bags laid on three furniture moving pads, Dad and talked of much, and I asked, “Ever see anything strange up here at night?”

Dad paused, then told a story he’d only told…

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Turbulent Transformations

A fellow teaching compatriot, Leilani Smith, has crafted a new skill since we both left the school—painting. That’s her “Water into Wine” above. I easily saw the blue of water, at the top right, and the red of wine at the bottom left, and the turbulent mixing of the two in the center. But she neither intended nor noticed the faint presence of a face top center. A suggested jaw line, a mouth and nose, and shaded eyes.

What a metaphor of the turbulence that accompanies following Jesus and the transformation he brings to our lives. Let’s experiment and…

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God's View of Us

When younger, in my arrogance and conceit, I thought I could understand why God loved me. I was pretty good. Loved him. Followed him...mostly. Decent mind. Decently good looking. But as I’ve aged, taken some blows, and recovered in part from that overwhelming self-confidence, I see myself more accurately. Now, I’m astounded that he loves me. Yes, I serve him. Yes, I’ve changed a lot. But I am far more of my inconsistencies. I better see transcendence, and the innate distance between us.

Then a message by my pastor…

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The Power of Yielding

Paradoxes have recently driven my thought life, and faith. Even my tech experiences. My old laptop’s birth way back in 2018 explained its slow work, how it sometimes froze. So I bought a new one, yet delayed transferring over, and the issues increased. Finally, four months after the purchase, I started the transfer on Saturday. It’s still undone. I can’t get Google Chrome on it, a requested router password didn’t work, although I took it directly off the router. The paradox? I…

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Lessons from Nam for a Marginalized Church

This bird above would have been like my bird. Back in college, I signed up for the Navy ROTC, to fly an F-4. They approved my app, sent the paperwork to DC for final signatures, and somehow lost it. By the time they discovered their mistake and asked me to resubmit, life changed and I declined. But seeing this jet at the Palm Springs Air Museum brought back memories, and a lesson for the church in a now secular society.

Not long ago, some friends and I discussed the changes…

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The Brevity of Life

140 years ago, this gravestone of my great great grandfather was fresh and clear. Now, the information about his life can only be read with difficulty. Not long ago my wife and I traveled to Park City Utah, near the birthplace of my father, to combine a week's vacation and a family heritage tour. Thomas Jefferson Thurston pioneered a valley east of Ogden, accumulated a number of worthwhile accomplishments in his 80 years, and passed away in St. George UT in 1885. But outside his family and a few historians, few know of him (yes, he was…

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