Anonymous

Before I started out the door for vacation last summer, I quickly looked around for some reading material.  If I was going to be spending long hours on the beach (getting ridiculously sunburned), I was going to need something to occupy myself.  And since I had failed to take a trip to the library the [...]

Swim your own race

For some reason this week an old story came back to mind – and I think it is worth telling. Many years ago the Special Olympics came to South Bend and I decided to be a spectator.  I headed over to the Notre Dame campus and took a seat in Rolf’s to watch some of [...]

Mourning with those who mourn

“Rejoice with those who rejoice; mourn with those who mourn.”  Romans 12:15 Tomorrow I will be conducting another funeral.  That seems to come with the territory when you are a hospice chaplain.  And no doubt there will be tears shed at the service.  There should be.  God created us with emotions and the ability to [...]

What about the change?

Change is at the same time one of the most welcome and unwelcome parts of life.  We love change because of the variety it brings.  We hate change because it upsets our familiar routines.  We love change because it offers us a better way to do things.  We hate change because just when we learn [...]

Saying goodbye

Yesterday thousands of people traveled to Comerica Park, home of the Detroit Tigers.  But they didn’t go to see a game – they went to say good bye.  To Ernie Harwell. To anyone who is a sports fan, particularly a baseball fan, Ernie Harwell is likely a familiar name.  But he was not a player.  [...]

Teacher talk

School was never my thing.  I never struggled – my grades were always good – it’s just that I didn’t really enjoy it.  I always looked forward to the day that I would graduate from college and be done with school. So what did I do for the next twenty-three years?  I taught school.  Full [...]

Let It Snow

I love snow.  Honestly.  And I’m just a little bit bitter that I don’t live in the Mid-Atlantic region right now.  Instead I live in Detroit – which with last night’s storm of about 8 ” has finally made it over the 20″ mark for the winter.  The entire winter.  That’s so lame. But here’s [...]

The shelf life of lima beans

I am not a fan of lima beans.  I was born that way.  And my dislike for them does nothing to make the following story any better. Recently I was visiting in the home of an older guy who is in our hospice program.  He’s single, has never been married, and has outlived all of [...]

So long, 2009!

It was the best of times; it was the worst of times.  Yeah, I know that’s not very original, but it does describe 2009 pretty well for me.  Except I might reverse the order. This past year has held more challenges and difficulties than any year of my life up until this point.  And yet, [...]

Coaching corner

One of my favorite coaches is a guy that most people have heard of  – because of one basketball play.  It happened in the first round of the NCAA tournament in 1988.  This coach had taken his Valparaiso team into the tournament on the basis of their winning their conference tournament and receiving an automatic [...]