I remember one day (about 10 years ago) Darlene telling me she thought I had ADD. She would know: Not only is she my wife, who probably knows me better than anyone save God Himself, but she is also a school nurse, and believe me when I tell you she sees LOTS of kids with… Continue reading Grabbing Hold of God and Not Letting Go

I’m going to continue with my (hopefully brief) departure from my life story, by sharing about something that’s been happening in the here and now. A month ago or so, I received a summons from the Pierce County court system, my fourth in 20 years, to report for jury duty. I reported to the courthouse… Continue reading The Justice System at Work

In worship at Elim last weekend, Pastor Martin Schlomer shared a compelling message from John 2 of Christ’s consuming passion for both the symbolic and manifest presence of God in our midst. For the Jews of His day, that symbolic presence was the Temple. Christ’s passion for this powerful symbol of God’s presence in the… Continue reading Salt, Light, and Uber Mushrooms

I have a wise friend at church, and former colleague, Cindy Waple, who helps counsel people (like me) who are walking through some sort of loss or crisis, seeking spiritual direction primarily through active listening … which involves asking really perceptive questions, and a lot of listening prayer. She’s very good at it. I met… Continue reading Clearing Out the Rubble

I knew I hadn’t posted a blog for awhile. But I didn’t realize it had been nearly two months … when I took a look this morning, I realized with a shock that the last ShortChanged blog I posted here was dated October 2. I’ve been burning a lot of ink in this blog, so… Continue reading The Story Goes On Somehow

I’ve been struggling this week to understand why I react at such a visceral level against the idea of a person like Donald Trump possibly becoming the President of the United States. I’ve been shocked to discover that Trump has so much support, and some of it even among people I know, love and respect… Continue reading Cheaters, Bullies and Gamblers

Okay, (hopefully!) this will be my final installment in this series, at least for awhile. I’ve covered my rather unique history of surviving accidents on foot, on bicycles, in cars, and even in planes. I haven’t yet touched trains. So, in this final piece, I think I’ll chat briefly about my second near-accident (this time… Continue reading Planes, Trains & Automobiles – Part 6: Midnight on the Pittsburgh Express

I did a lot of cycling after 2003, and had a fair number of spills. I won’t go into all of them, but I did want to share about my most life-threatening incident, which occurred in the spring of 2006. This was at the peak of my enthusiasm for cycling. Following my 2003 downhill mountainbiking… Continue reading Planes, Trains & Automobiles – Part 5: Ringing my bell

Okay, I’ve talked a lot already about near-misses on planes and automobiles. But, some of the mishaps for which I am best known actually occurred on two wheels. And the first of these mishaps, as painful as it was, actually went a long way to strengthen my faith. And no, when I say “two wheels,”… Continue reading Planes, Trains, and Automobiles – Part 4: Extreme downhill

  My second automobile accident occurred to me as a driver. It was January 3, 1984, a rainy night in Upland, California. Darlene’s mom had given us her car, and it was a beauty — a 1967 Ford Mustang, cream-white, low mileage. It had one of the smaller V8 engines made, and offered 289 horses… Continue reading Planes, Trains and Automobiles – Part 3: Pride comes before a fall