I am surrounded, immersed, enveloped, and filled to overflowing with bliss. At any given moment there are multiple guitars, several drums, a saxophone, a flute, a harp, and more stunningly beautiful voices than I can count. There are moments in the circle when all...
Today is my birthday! 67 years ago I came into the world and took my first breath. Between then and now, I have taken approximately 846,216,000 breaths. My heart has beat somewhere in the neighborhood of 2,993,292,000 times. I have travelled about 342,409,128,000...
I always like Father’s Day, because it offers me an opportunity to reflect on how grateful I am to be a father. I am not a father in the biological/genetic sense of the word. I am a father because a whole bunch of young women continue to allow me to share in their...
On this Mother’s Day I find myself reflecting on the impact my mom had on my life. She’s been gone for eight years, and there are relatively long periods of time when I am not actively, consciously thinking about her. But I know she’s still there, and the ripples...
Nineteen years ago today I had the life-changing honor and privilege of marrying Veronica Lassen. We had no idea what lay ahead for us nor how quickly it would come, and that is one of life’s great and gracious gifts. What we knew was that love had brought us...
This morning I took a big step down a path that I have mostly been avoiding for the past twelve years. In 2010, my wife (Veronica) died quite suddenly. During the brief time she was in the hospital, and then for about a year afterwards, I did a lot of journaling...
I feel like the luckiest human on the planet. Last night I spent several hours laughing with dear friends, including a surprise, last minute visit from one of my daughters. Then a delicious breakfast at a lovely local restaurant with the above mentioned daughter....
I’m enjoying a few days of quiet downtime before my life picks up speed on Monday. That’s the day I officially step out of retirement and take up the mantle of being a pastor again (for the next three months). I’m actually excited for the challenge, but just for...