In my four-plus decades of ministry, I haven’t had many opportunities to go on missions trips. My first experience, 22 years ago, took my wife and me on a two-week visit to Singapore and Malaysia. I had the opportunity to speak about 20 times to families and young people at…
October 1992 marked our first autumn living in Vermont. Up to that point, the farthest east I had been is Washington, D.C., and no farther north than Cooks Forest State Park in western Pennsylvania. But as the leaves began to change in late September and peak in early October, we…
Camping had become a vacation of choice when I was a child of 7 or 8. Our family’s first camping excursion is a blur, having faded in my memory and beyond reach. It’s the second or third attempt that stands out—because it didn’t happen. In the summer of ’67, plans…
For the most part, traveling east from Hoover Dam at the Arizona/Nevada border to Phoenix along US 93 doesn’t really rank as particularly “pretty.” To be sure, some scenic views catch your attention. There’s an overlook or two worth stopping to take in the vista. But brown gets a bit…
This post may seem like a mere travelogue. Sorry about that, but it’s going somewhere (no pun intended), though it will take a couple of posts to get there. Hope you’ll go along for the journey. Our first visit to the American southwest—about seven years ago—left us unimpressed overall. We…
This past Christmas, my daughter and grandson gave me a wonderful book suitable for the coffee table (do people still have those?). Unforgettable Journeys: Slow Down and See the World features over 200 journeys from all over the world. The book is divided into five sections based on mode of…
Turning to my left, I looked out the airplane window, waiting for takeoff. The effects of hours of light snow and sub-zero temperatures were obvious everywhere. A light layer of snow covered some areas of the gate area pavement. Plows scurried about, back and forth, relentlessly working to keep the…
“I can’t breathe!” We’ve heard it countless times in the past few months, and probably have become a bit weary of hearing it. Of course, the genesis of that lament comes from the back seat of a police car in Minneapolis. But that’s a discussion for another day. Maybe. Well,…
My wife gave me a very unique gift for my birthday this year. Essentially, it’s a glorified key chain that will never be used for keys. Instead, produced by a company called The Wander Club, the idea is to collect, not keys, but little engraved tokens commemorating places one has…
For as long as I can remember, I’ve enjoyed being outdoors, especially camping and hiking—just didn’t do much of it. If I’d had my druthers growing up, I would have joined Cub Scouts and then Boy Scouts; however, being a pastor’s kid, it wasn’t an option. Scout meetings always conflicted…
