“In the spring of the year, the time when kings go forth to battle, …. David remained at Jerusalem.” (2Sam. 11:1) This seemingly insignificant line in the scripture describes the first step by King David that led to a great disaster.  David’s duty was to be with his army and yet he decided to stay … Continue reading Let’s Do Our Duty, Even If Tough →

My brothers Tommy and Brown are 82 and 83 today…. born a year apart the same date - “Irish Twins”. I was born 6 years & 6 days later. Wow, we’re not “spring chickens” anymore.  We are spread out from St. Louis to Arizona to New Jersey and now Florida. Most of my family memories … Continue reading “Tommy & Brown” →

The “Rawlings PMM” baseball glove was my pride and joy.  I received it on my 9th  birthday back in 1955. I loved that glove. I oiled it every night; I left a baseball in it when I went to bed to help form the pocket. After several weeks it was so supple that when the ball landed, the … Continue reading “My First Baseball Mitt” →

The default is my automatic setting; used when I lack other options. It’s not a bad place to start but be careful if your default position is the first choice all the time…..” hey if I can’t think of anything, I’ll just go to my default position.” It takes work and discernment to get beyond my default … Continue reading “Beware of the Default Position” →

Woe, what’s going on with this BLOG? For the true followers of the BLOG, you may have noticed that we missed a few BLOGS last week… yikes, what’s going on? Well, it’s been a bit of a crazy week. My dear wife has a compression fracture in her back…very painful and pretty debilitating. In the … Continue reading “Off Balance” →

Originally Posted May 17, 2021 I think most of us occasionally fight against anxiety….  I know I do. Anxiety is described as  “a feeling of fear, dread, and uneasiness…. it can be a normal reaction to stress… feeling anxious when faced with a difficult problem at work, before taking a test, or before making an important decision.” Anxiety … Continue reading “Against Anxiety — We Win” →

Originally Posted May 14, 2021 It seems that life can be like a roller coaster….the drudgery of slowly climbing endless hills and then the invigorating and exciting thrills of racing down them ….  many ups and downs.  Another analogy of life can be found in the game of golf. I’ve been trudging thru the golf courses … Continue reading “The Ups & Downs Of Life” →

It’s tough when you have to wait on the Lord….. when it looks like things are not going to work out, that things are stacked against you… “how can this work out….. it would take a miracle”. Waiting on the Lord is difficult.  The passage from Isaiah 40 speaks to this.  “He gives power to the … Continue reading “Let’s Run And Not Grow Weary” →

“We must be prepared, for the Lord will come when we do not expect—often at precisely those moments we feel farthest from God.” (Magnificat 8-7-22; ref. Luke 12:32-48) Doing God’s will is always the right thing to do, whether I feel like doing it or not. How often our feelings can betray us; they can … Continue reading “When The Going Gets Tough…..” →

Originally Posted May 13, 2021 “I have much more to tell you, but you cannot bear it now.” (John 16:12-15)  In today’s reading from John 16, we get another glimpse of God’s “precise love” for us and our own “vulnerabilities”. Jesus doesn’t just dump everything on our head, telling us to ”shape up or ship out”. … Continue reading “Are You Ready ?” →