Category Archives: Hope

The story is told in Mark’s gospel of Jesus and his “inner core” of Peter, James and John taking a walk up a high mountain where Jesus was “transfigured.” The voice of God spoke from a cloud that covered them and confirmed what Jesus’ miracles were pointing to all along:  “This is my Son, whom […]

A Darkness Upon Us

I attended a vigil with the Congregation Ahavath Chesed at their Temple in Jacksonville. It was a moving ceremony remembering the eleven people killed and several wounded at the Tree of Life Synagogue in Pittsburgh’s Squirrel Hill neighborhood, gunned down by the automatic weapons fire of a hate-filled man who said, when apprehended, that “all […]

What are you passionate about?  I got a kick out of watching the recent FIFA World Cup (pun intended). I mean, here I am living in the Southland mecca of college football, with a local NFL team to boot (pun again), and I thought I knew what passionate fandom is all about.  There’s no doubt […]

Under Construction

I’ve had an ongoing correspondence with a man about spiritual things.  We met under unusual circumstances and I learned, in a very tense and difficult situation, that this man identifies as a Christian.  So do I.  That led to a series of letters that started when he first reached out to me by “snail mail,” […]

Seasons

I’m on the eve of another birthday.  I can’t say I mind, but it is striking to contemplate being on the downslope of my 50s, barreling full-speed toward the big “six-oh”.  Thinking about birthdays over the years hasn’t been too troublesome for me, but I do remember feeling a bit “rocked” when I turned 30.  Seems […]

I’m not a fan of horror movies.  In the few I have seen, I found myself shielding my eyes and even trying to stop my ears.  It is rather embarrassing cowering next to my wife who, although not a fan of the genre either, stares at the screen through every gory detail. A Field Trip […]

Indeed

I have a friend and law partner who is a very smart guy. His academic pedigree is impressive enough, but his insightful brilliance and careful attention to detail have earned him a well-deserved reputation as a top-shelf transactional lawyer. When discussing a deal, or even some deep, spiritual topic, he has a practice of giving […]

Deaths of Despair

In his classic work Walden, Henry David Thoreau wrote that “the mass of men lead lives of quiet desperation.”  It’s a phrase oft-repeated that resonates with many, but the observation, though insightful, has hardly been the stuff of empirical data.  That may be changing.  Nobel-laureate and Princeton Professor of Economics, Sir Angus Deaton, and his […]