I love to history and culture. So when I travel I read up on the place I’m going. I want to know how the Swazi people fled to the mountains during Shaka Zulu’s reign of terror in the early 1800’s…
Jul 20 2016
Jul 19 2016
Pictures of Africa, Part 1
Over the next week or so I plan to write about my recent trip to Africa. Don’t worry. I’m not going to bore you with long essays. I’ll bore you with short essays. I know I’m a guy who can…
May 23 2016
God's Harsh Gift - A funeral meditation.
As a dog runs to the end of its tether and jerks to a hard, sudden stop, so death yanks us from the sprint of arrogance to the realization that we are not gods but small, fragile creatures, depandent on…
May 17 2016
A Shard of Orange Plastic
I am holding a shard of orange plastic in my hand. I picked it up off the road a couple of miles from my house. I plan to keep it for awhile as a reminder of how fragile the world…
May 11 2016
Graduation Season
This is graduation season. Melony and I have been watching students graduate since we began working with them in 1984. It is so exciting to see them walk across that stage, budding like roses, open to the world with the…
Apr 27 2016
Testing the Blog
So I'm setting up this new web site, in hopes that someone will come look at it. I don't know yet whether it's visible or if anyone can comment, so this is really an existential shot in the dark. Can…