David always liked Sunday School. His teacher really cared for every boy and girl in the class. She talked about Jesus as the best friend you could ever have. David could hardly wait for each Sunday. But this week all the kids were in the big church room with adults. In the car on the…
Author: admin
“Friennds”
“Friennds. Friennds.” Her soft, plaintive cry hardly penetrated the stillness of the morning. Five-year-old Amy stood at the end of the driveway and looked both ways. “Friennds. Friennds.” Amy’s family had just moved to their new house. She had to leave all her friends behind but her parents assured Amy there would be new ones…
Dying for Love
Themes of love and death. These are pervasive in the arts throughout history. Poets, philosophers, novelists have wrestled with the human disposition towards ‘dying for love,’ ‘dying to self for love,’ ‘dying to love.’ The nuances in these phrases reveal the complexities of human relationships. Dying for love. Does this mean dying figuratively because of…
It’s never too late . . .
Meet my friend Henry. I can say ‘friend’ even though I met him just recently at the gym. He’s the kind of guy I want as a friend. 93 years old. Pushes his walker at a good c lip as he enters the gym with determined focus. Heads straight to the first of his three…
A word about my writing
Fellow travellers for the journey. Having coffee together, someone who is a constant encouragement for my writing mentioned that my pieces are getting longer. He assured me it was okay; nevertheless, the observation was instructive. I need to be more vigilant in assessing the breadth of material I include in a piece, its relevance to…
Juxtaposition – a lesson from the ‘Up’ movie
A need for definition. Juxta = next to. Pose = to place. Juxtapose = to place next to. ‘Juxtaposition’ describes a situation where two elements that don’t seem to belong together are placed side by side. The contrast heightens emotional impact, creates irony, conveys a clash of realities, and engages the reader, viewer, or listener…
“If only . . .” or “At least . . .”? – the power of regret
The face tells the story. It was the women’s individual cycling road race at the 2016 Summer Olympics in Rio de Janeiro. Anna van der Breggen (center) won gold “by the width of a tire.” Emma Johansson (on left) got silver. And Elisa Borghini (on right) came in third for bronze. At the finish line,…
Darrell and Barbara – an encounter with fellowship
A review of ‘differentiation’ and ‘integration.’ In A ‘problem’ with “Ask Jesus into your heart,” I introduced ‘differentiation’ and ‘integration’ to describe how individuals and organizations work to create their identify. They outline differences to distinguish themselves from others (differentiation) or similarities to show avenues of potential alignment (integration). I shared how Indigenous students in…
A ‘problem’ with “Ask Jesus into your heart”
I am 100% Ukrainian on both sides of my parental lineage. Raised in the Ukrainian Greek Orthodox Church and steeped in Ukrainian culture. It was a strong local church community with a large extended family network through heritage and marriage. Liturgy and rituals from the cradle to the grave. Baptism of babies had symbolic rites…
Her name was Merrilee
I wish I could find a picture of her. Especially when dressed in her clown costume to do a program with children. She was a woman born deaf but could communicate on levels that surpassed many ‘normal’ hearers. And I believe she was an active agent in saving my life. A plane and a son…