by Teri Ong  In January, a lovely lady from the Congo, who now lives in our city, visited our church. Her visit gave me an opportunity to dust off my very dusty skills in speaking French. Working my way through what is left of my conversational vocabulary caused me to review in my mind some of the lessons I learned in French history back in the day. As a result of this exercise, I have been struck by some of the dangerous parallels between what happened in France about 200 years ago, and what is happening in our own society […]

by Teri Ong  …perplexed, but not despairing… 2 Cor. 4:8   I have been perplexed for a number of months as I have heard the advertisements on the radio for a company called “High Times Investments.”  This is a company that is touting the positive financial benefits of the marijuana “industry.”  The interested listener is invited to sign up for a webinar that will convince the potential investor that a small amount of money may provide such a windfall that the investor can retire in style. The webinars are hosted by high profile politicians and business people, which puts an aura […]

by Teri Ong  Sunday, January 20, 2019 was a momentous day for our family. Our eleventh grandchild was born.  That same day in Washington D.C. a March for Life was being held, as it is every year, to mourn the atrocities committed under Roe v. Wade, and to encourage the rightful pursuit of Life. While pro-life people were marching to uphold innocent life, others were marching to support what they euphemistically call “the woman’s right to choose.”  That phrase fits G. K. Chesterton’s definition of an “evil euphemism.” An evil euphemism is essentially a lie. One of his examples is […]

by Teri Ong We have been subjected to an almost unprecedented uproar in American society for the past three weeks. Some of us stopped holding our breath on Saturday afternoon (Oct. 6) when Justice Kavanaugh was approved by the U.S. Senate to serve on the Supreme Court. Others have been, and some continue screaming without ever seeming to stop and take a breath, because of the confirmation. There is a segment of society, predominantly vociferous women and some men with a particular political agenda, who are trying to convince the rest of us that all women who claim to have […]

Steve and I were blessed to experience the unlikely fulfillment of a longstanding dream this summer. I say “dream” because it was too lofty to be a “bucket list” item that we set out to do sometime in our life; it was something that existed only in our wildest imaginations. We made a crossing of the North Atlantic on the Queen Mary 2! I have been in love with the sea and ships since my earliest ferry boat rides from my childhood home in Seattle to the Olympic Peninsula and the various islands in Puget Sound. Later, on a visit […]

by Teri Ong We have had several serious-minded discussions this summer with our millennial son about how “millennials” think and analyze the pop culture of the moment. This has been in the context of churches making choices to use certain styles and genres in the arts in order to “connect” with the millennial generation. This has been a topic of discussion because the association of churches that our church is part of has been grappling with the issue of “conservative” versus “contemporary” worship recently. Grappling with the issue now, however, feels likes swinging late at a ball that is already […]

“Which now is better–  Pure reason or rhyme,  A man of letters,  Or a keeper of time?    His meaning covered  In worthless doggerel,  Is undiscovered  In his foggerel.   Reason is active,  But rhyme is a ruse,  A silly distractive  No one should use.    Give to the reader  The unadorned facts,  In timely order  With logic exact,    Without delusion  On premise and precept,  Drawing conclusions  We all should accept.    So pound in a nail,  And mind the gap,  Now ration the ale  For the mindless sap.”    “Now see here!” says Rhyme.  “I’m starting to tire.  You’ve taken […]

By Teri Ong   Once upon a long ago, there was a dowdy scullery maid named Cinder-Teri. She was assigned to work in the kitchen in a beautiful kingdom called Camp-of-the-Woods. All in all, she was very happy there. The work was not unpleasant, and the kingdom was ruled by a wise and benevolent king and queen who loved and cared for all of their subjects.  The king and queen were the blessed parents of two handsome princes and two beautiful princesses. Many of the working lads and lasses in the kingdom of Camp-of-the-Woods aspired to be deemed worthy to be […]

by Teri Ong   It is no secret to my friends and family; I am a baseball fan. It probably started when I was a youngster and Harmon Killebrew was the hometown hero on the Minnesota Twins. My brother even won a drawing for a baseball glove signed by Harmon in a contest sponsored by Oscar Meyer Hotdogs– a one-time stadium favorite. Or it could have started when my husband got rid of our TV during the first summer of our marriage. It was then that I began listening to Denver Bears baseball games on KOA radio. Sometimes we would go […]

 by Teri Ong   [This is the third of three posts about abandoning attendance in a local church congregation. If you are reading this and getting a little uncomfortable about your own practices in regard to building up the Body of Christ, I only have one suggestion: go to Scripture and the Lord for yourself and see what He would have you do on a regular basis. We, as American Christians, are so spoiled by our ease and affluence; perhaps we need to take some time out for honest self-evaluation.   This post picks up our imaginary round table discussion where we […]