by Teri Ong I just read an article in the “Review” section of the Wall Street Journal (July11-12, 2020, pp. C1-2), entitled “Learning to Conquer Life’s Crises” by Bruce Feiler. Feiler expressed many thoughts, supported by anecdotes and some research, that Steve and I had long identified in the experiences of Bible personages. Chief among those ideas is that life is full of “transitions,” and if we have a mindset of just getting through transitions into “real life,” we may miss out on what “real life” really is. For the Christian, real life is living obediently in the Vine, no […]

September 7, 2020 Hell’s ice fills the skyAnd we shudder as ourNormal comforts die. Hot snow falls around;It’s eerie flakes spew forthFrom black ashen cloud. Blood red sun at noonGives faint, struggling lightThat darkens too soon. Our hearts in us quakeAs our usual life shiftsAnd solid things shake. Nature holds its breath:We’re afraid of signs andHints of coming death. We suppress our terror:It’s imaginationOr perhaps an error. But the black at noonMakes us fear we’ve seen theDark side of the moon. Such a seismic shiftMakes our blood run cold andThen recalls God’s gift, When stars, moon and sunFramed the horrible […]

They say they want to free us all.  Say who?  You know–  They own near a half  the world’s wealth.  Their great machines will do our work.  Say what?  You know–  Cleaning, moving, cooking, serving;  They’ll do all the grunt work we dread.  That’s all?  Well, no;  Planting, watering, harvesting,  No need for us to get dirty.  That’s great!  There’s more–  Planning, designing, constructing,  Numbers crunched by crunching machines.  So what?!  There’s more;  Monitoring, medicating,  Governing, and educating,  Now transporting, then transfixing.  No need to work; they’ll fix themselves:  Then we may learn to play all day!  Play what?  Say I,  What they make […]

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 […]

“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 […]