Bringing the Word to Life

You Who Have Ears to Hear, Please Listen!

Leave a Comment / Church, Citizenship, Personal, Spiritual Disciplines / By /

I’ve had a weird week dealing with a plugged ear. At first, I thought wax had accumulated, so I started the drops and flushing routine for a few days, but heard no improvement. We’re talking totally blocked hearing in my right ear. My efforts now focus on reducing nasal congestion, and a strong decongestant seems to be breaking it up a little. I’m told it could be up to two weeks before it resolves! Meanwhile, I have experienced some of the oddities and embarrassments that hard-of-hearing folks have told me about in my pastoral travels. “Talk into my good ear—don’t […]

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Deep Breathing in the Battle

Leave a Comment / Anxiety, Personal, Spiritual Battle, Spiritual Disciplines / By /

Quite often when I am visiting a patient at the hospital, we become aware of a persistent beep from the vital signs monitor. The patient’s pulse oximeter is registering a low blood oxygen level, usually a dip below 90% (98-100% is normal). The patient will sometimes crimp the sensor taped to a finger or “forget” to breathe during conversation! The beep is a prompt to take a few good, deep breaths, and almost without fail the O2 number climbs back up into normal range. We can continue our visit without further interruption. A persistent beep has been going off for

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Deep Breathing through a Bad Air Day

1 Comment / Anxiety, Current Events, Personal, Prayer, Spiritual Disciplines / By /

The San Francisco Bay Area, where I live, has been in the national news of late, due to the lightning-sparked wildfires consuming our state. Our region is surrounded by record-setting fires, and as a result our air has become smoky. The Air Quality Index (AQI) has for days been in the “hazardous for all people” range, with a few respites in the evening as winds change. As a lung cancer survivor, minus one lung lobe and afflicted with asthma, I am hunkerin’ down at home with the A/C and fan running night and day, sealed against the hazy soup that

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Book Launch Is Underway!

Leave a Comment / Book: Deep Breathing / By /

The steps toward publishing my first book Deep Breathing: Finding Calm amid Cancer Anxiety are accelerating to a run these days! The book has been a long time comin’ . . . the original journal during my six-month cancer adventure in 2013-14 had to be whittled from 140,000 words to 80,000 for publication—no small feat, and I had lots of help! Currently, I am rereading it in its various formats to give final approval for ePUB and Kindle, as well as the print version. The mechanics of getting a book in the hands of an intended audience have many moving

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Christian Faith Stands the Test of Time

2 Comments / Personal, Romans 8, Testimony / By /

A milestone offers me the opportunity to give witness to God’s faithfulness. Fifty years ago today, I surrendered to Jesus Christ, actively received his salvation and indwelling Holy Spirit, and committed my life to serving him. This after six months of resistance following a sermon of invitation I heard in Seattle in January of 1970. The problem was pride, conceit, self-sufficiency, and fear within me, preventing me from trusting God with my life. But the pursuit was on, and finally I just gave up because God wouldn’t let it rest. I was in high school at the time, and new

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Holy Saturday: What If Jesus Had Never Been Raised?

1 Comment / Anxiety, Easter, Holy Week, Lent, Spiritual Disciplines / By /

As a teenager, I played the organ weekly for my large Catholic parish. Steeped in the rituals of Holy Week, my musical participation was the means for experiencing the events we were commemorating. One particular year, after the demands of Holy Week had run their course through Good Friday, I came into the church on Saturday to practice my pieces for Easter morning. In the Catholic tradition, at the conclusion of the Good Friday service the church sanctuary is stripped of all ornamentation. The candles are extinguished and the Sacrament is removed from the building. Empty of worshipers on Holy

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Holy Week Trilogy Part 3: Alone

1 Comment / God, Holy Week, Lent, Spiritual Disciplines / By /

Matthew 27:43-50 Good Friday opened with Jesus once again in the midst of crowds, only this time the voices were jeering and mocking. Romans and Jews alike were shouting, “Crucify him! Crucify him!” and “Hail, king of the Jews!” The way to Golgotha was lined with onlookers taunting him with bad theology and sarcastic insults. Matthew spares us any details of the actual crucifixion, but dwells on the reactions of spectators. Which one am I in that crowd? Of the “seven last words of Christ” found in the gospels, Matthew records only one: “Eloi, Eloi, lama sabachthani?”—which means, “My God,

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Holy Week Trilogy Part 2: Strength Together, Solidarity Apart

2 Comments / Holy Week, Lent, Spiritual Disciplines / By /

Matthew 26:17-30; 36-46 Holy Week feels like a new experience this year while living under “stay at home” orders. One day merges into another, and yet again, I forget what day of the week it is. Ordinarily I would be going to services for Maundy Thursday and Good Friday and anticipating worship with the family of God on Easter Sunday. Alongside those expectations, I would be going to work and enjoying scheduled interactions at church or in the neighborhood. But physical distancing—now three weeks for us—is stretching my introversion to the limit. Today I feel a bit depressed without the

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Holy Week Trilogy Part I: Headlong into Trouble

7 Comments / Anxiety, Holy Week, Leadership and Spirituality, Lung Cancer, Personal / By /

Luke 19:45:48 Many of my readers are aware that in 2013-14, I faced Stage 3 lung cancer, enduring six months of treatment—radiation, chemotherapy, and surgery—and coming out the other side “cured” (my doctor’s word). Officially NED (“No evidence of disease”) for six years now, and yes, I am celebrating the success of all that effort. Unfortunately, the fact that I gave up a lung lobe and developed asthma makes me “high risk” for serious complications if I were to contract Covid-19. I serve part-time as chaplain at a Level 2 Trauma Center that now has an Incident Command Center to

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God’s Promise of Safety

7 Comments / Anxiety, Romans 8 / By /

A teeny-tiny virus that when magnified looks worse than ragweed pollen has made us cower. My county has restricted movement and assembly for twelve days now. We all hope this intentional isolation will work to curb the spread of coronavirus, and it is wisdom and prudence to stay home, stay disinfected, and keep one’s distance from others. It’s a gift we give to our neighbors and the world, to “keep our germs to ourselves,” as my mother used to say. The great temptation we are facing these days is to go beyond prudence and sink into feelings of insecurity and

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