“My grandmother has trouble with her phone too,” the sales representative said. “My advice is to call your cell number once a month to avoid letting it fall into sleep mode.” Who knew?  My cell phone goes catatonic if I don’t talk to it enough. Needless to say, my transitio

If past practices are a justification for anything, then slavery should be legal. Slavery existed long before the birth of Christ, and several passages in the Bible sanction the institution. Many of us may think slavery is illegal in the modern world.  But, those of us who do are wro

We know good intentions can go wrong.  The relatives of a 3-year-old girl recently beat and choked her to death in their efforts to exorcise the devil they assumed possessed her. Authorities found the child’s crumpled body on the floor of the church her family attended. As might be

The picture on my Facebook page was of a set of stairs. I recognized them as those that led to a Chinese restaurant I frequented when I worked in the city. The food was good and cheap, and customers appreciated the fast service.  If I arrived for lunch alone, I’d usually find a tab

I sat down to brunch with a married couple I’ve known for years.  The friendship is so comfortable, we dare to talk about religion and politics.  Mostly we discuss books. The husband told me he was working through the novels of a Japanese woman who wrote fantasy.  He couldn’t r

A strategist for the democratic party, Lisa Smith, sums up her political view of the world. It’s radical that being reasonable is radical and being normal is abnormal. ( ”Radical Reason” by Joe Hagan, Vanity Fair, October 2022, pg.43.)  Profound as well as surprising, the comme

Most of us remember January 6, 2021, when Republican Senator Josh Hawley raised his fist to indicate support for insurrectionists gathered outside the Capital.  Many of his fellow Americans were shocked by his gesture, but not all.  Recently, Hawley felt enough wind at his back to t

Knowledge is power said Elizabethan Francis Bacon. The father of empiricism, or modern science, put his faith in the observable rather than the spiritual. Studying nature was enough to glorify God, he said. Since then, mankind has amassed a store of information in subjects far ranging

Getting Lost to Find Home, my upcoming memoir, will reveal my childhood relationship with my father was a rocky one.  We didn’t make our separate peace until I’d graduated from college.  Even then, communication wasn’t easy.  He was an Indiana farm boy with an 8th-grade educa

When I complained my cell phone didn’t come with a user’s manual, the woman seated beside me at the retirement center suggested I upgrade to a smartphone. “I’m not smart enough for a smartphone,” I wailed. I got no sympathy. “If you don’t get on the caboose, you can’t