It was the women’s individual cycling road race at 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, Anna (gold) raised her arms in…
Issues
Darrell and Barbara – an encounter with fellowship
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 conservative evangelical college exemplified these…
“You can do it . . . !”
“You can do it, Ron! You can do it!” Mile 17 or 18 of the New York City Marathon. What’s often called ‘hitting the wall.’ A point in the 26.2 miles where a runner longs to just collapse into a fetal position on the sidewalk. I had already shifted into an even slower gear than…
A Tale of Two . . . – “Can’t we all just get along?”
“It was the best of times, it was the worst of times, it was the age of wisdom, it was the age of foolishness, it was the epoch of belief, it was the epoch of incredulity, it was the season of Light, it was the season of Darkness, it was the spring of hope, it…
To Swear or Not to Swear, . . . That is the question
I know, it may be ‘cheesy’ to do a spin on Shakespeare’s ‘to be or not to be.’ But it makes the title more appealing than ‘Language Used at Work, at Home, and Everywhere Else‘ (my original title). My personal history with ‘swear’ words is pretty conservative. When our son was in his mid to…
On ‘Just because I could . . .’
Postscript (February 2026) For the backstory on my comments below, you should first read “Just because I could . . . a thing called ‘Power’.” In May 2025, a town hall meeting was called in protest to the sudden ban of all boats on the lake. The Park Superintendent who made that fateful decision was…
“Just because I could” – a thing called ‘Power’
Backstory: As expressed in A Start . . . A Fresh Start . . . and then, A New Fresh Start, I did the piece below during my one day of writing in May 2025. Now, in January 2026, I have reworked it somewhat but still let it speak from the context of that day…
Are We There Yet?
TIME. Is there anything more variable in our experience of life? As a child in the family car, heading to see Grandma (we called her Baba), it passed so excruciatingly sloooow. Now, at 76, I simply don’t know where the past 25 years have gone. It seems like only yesterday that Barbara and I were…