Imagine our surprise. After a few seconds driving our rental car through the gates of the walled Italian city San Gimignano, we realized that the ancient cobble stone streets were meant for pedestrians only. Yeah, there were probably signs somewhere that forbade vehicles from driving on these historic pathways but my Italian was marginal at […]
The closest I’ve ever gotten physically (or emotionally) to Bimini is when we took a weeklong trip to Nassau in the Bahamas. A few years ago both sons and their wives were living on opposite ends of the country from each other…and us. Los Angeles and New York City. We are in Nashville. Dennis and […]
I sleep soundly these days and mostly it’s because of a small device called a Sound Machine. It looks like a tiny alien spaceship that landed on my bedside table. When I turn it on, I can select from several sounds that are guaranteed to soothe me into serenity. There’s the sound of the ocean, […]
What’s the difference between faith and fear? Everything. They are direct opposites. Most experts agree that we all have some innate fears, things we’re born with. Fear of falling is one of them. And if the fear of falling is innate, is not the faith that gravity pulls us down inborn as well? Faith and fear […]
“Nana, how much do I weigh?” I turned to see that 4-year-old Brileigh was holding a yardstick up next to her body. I smiled and explained, or tried to, that if she wanted to measure her weight, she’d need to step on the scales. Height is measured in inches, I said, and the yardstick would […]
What’s the difference between a rut and a groove? Nothing. When you look up each of these words in the dictionary, the first definitions are identical: a narrow channel or path in a surface. They appear to be synonymous. But you hardly ever use “groove” in the same way as you do “rut”. In fact, […]
I have a new military strategy that I’m thinking of sharing with the Pentagon. It’s like this: Whenever our country is in conflict with another, we unleash one hundred 18-month-old children into the enemy camp. Hear me out. This is biblical. God confused Israel’s enemies several times in history. We studied one in Exodus recently […]
Every morning when Dennis and I are at our kitchen table eating our Special K and reading the newspaper, we hear a familiar sound. It’s a mockingbird sitting on our chimney going through his morning ritual – singing a through-composed song from start to finish. Because the chimney feeds into the fireplace in our kitchen, […]
I am a word geek. I admit it. I like to study word origins. That’s why I wrote a book called The Words We Sing that came out last year. I took 50 words and phrases that we sing as lyrics at church but hardly use otherwise and defined them in today’s context. (You can […]
Have you ever been to a wrestling match? I don’t mean “rasslin’” like they do on Saturday night at the Farm Center. I’m talking about a legitimate competitive sport recognized by the high school and collegiate associations – and the Olympics. I’m told that there are several styles: Greco-Roman and Free Style among them. I […]