A Knight's Journey

"Wow."    -That is a word I use a LOT.  It lends itself to describe my feelings on a lot of things...from the good -to the bad...even to the ugly.  It depicts my astonishment over many things... It's what I  wanted  to say when my doctor looked at me in a sort of nervous way- and said the words "cancer" quickly, as if to get them out there in the open air--might relieve some of the stress she was feeling.  Her first words,  "Well, I don't have good news for you",   hung suspended, and I wanted to hit the rewind button and back track and maybe even have a re-do of the past few days events.  But that wasn't happening.  It was there.  The test run- the mammogram and the ultrasound with the biopsy all told the facts of what was under the skin of me...but just so far.  It couldn't get to the heart of me... that was and is only for God to see.  I sat on the back porch, ignored the obvious humidity and heat and dra...

Happy Father's Day to all the dads out there!  I'm not a dad.  Never have been one and never desired to be. There's a LOT of weight carried around on the broad shoulders of all the dads.  Responsibility is not something you wake up to and just have, it's something that you learn and live on a daily basis.  It starts when you are young...You learn to be responsible by being given chores as a kid--little jobs to help out around the house.  It is your job to teach your children to be responsible adults.  (Yes, the moms have a big role in this, but dads--it begins with you.) To all the new dads, raising babies can be tricky sometimes.  You think you know what you're doing--and then suddenly you are in for an all nighter.  It's probably worse for you when the little crying bundle wants no one but mama.  Your heart aches to be able to comfort the little one too.  Can I encourage you this morning?  Take care of the new mama.  Yes, you...

Before you think this blogpost is a more detailed obituary--stop a sec. It's not.  I feel so strongly I need to tell you something:  In death, as in life, it's all about WHO you know.  Not "whose" you are, not who you belong to.  But Who you belong to.  Grandbuddy would tell you that today.  It would not matter one single bit that you were the baby of 10.  Or that your siblings more-or-less were the ones who were the major participants in your raising.   It wouldn't matter that your mother was a Christian...but are you? Grandbuddy's physical body was laid to rest Wednesday.  What a wonderful job Jeff, Juno and Mark did.  Grandbuddy had said he wanted his funeral to be just his son-in-laws.  It was perfect, and he would be proud.   I started this blog post on the 12th but couldn't finish.  My mind was full.  My emotions were all over the place.  I looked at it a couple more times and still couldn't lay my fingers ...

Have you heard the quote that we all have an amazing gift every morning when we wake up...it's called the "Present"?  Or something like that.  I am recognizing that more and more each day. Most of you know that when we transitioned home from Bolivia for health reasons, God gave me a job to serve people in a way I never expected:  a funeral home.  And while I was nervous as a cat in a room full of rocking chairs initially, it was mainly because of the issues I had been having in Bolivia; anxiety, severe depression, panic attacks (all of which I did my best to keep hidden), and last but not least, my thyroid decided to take a vacay. (free photo via Pixabay) Oh, wait!  Raise your hand if you thought you could only serve God in ministry as a pastor, youth pastor or missionary.  I think when God places a call on our lives to serve Him, that's immediately where we first go to in our minds.  We become a stammering, stuttering Moses, trying to talk God out of ...