Good evening, friend: If you had told me two weeks ago that the COVID crisis would soon disappear from the headlines, replaced by something even more virulent and devastating, I wouldn’t have believed you. But as I write this, nearly every major city in America has been and is being convulsed by violence. It is […]
Read More… from Sleep on This: Where do we even start? (June 3)
Last week, my daughter Rachel was driving through her tiny town of Black Mountain, North Carolina, when she saw two men fighting. One black, one white, with the white man’s girlfriend shooting video and the black man’s male friend just standing there, watching. There were two other onlookers as well. Rachel stopped, rolled down her […]
Good evening, friend! As I have shared over the last two nights, the horrific murder of George Floyd has jolted me into a deep, personal review of my own attitudes towards race relations in this country. Like many of you, I have been largely shielded from racial strife. Growing up in Yakima, we who lived […]
Read More… from Sleep on This: The pillaging of hope (June 2)
Good evening, friend. He was, LITERALLY, the only “black” kid in our high school. (No one said “African American” back in the seventies.) His name was Clint and he was my friend. I know…the proverbial black friend that every enlightened white person claims. But it was true. We hung out together. He visited my youth […]
This weekend I will be preaching on the topic of encouragement. Did you know that encouragement is a spiritual gift? It is also called “exhortation.” But “encouragement” is less inscrutable! And even if you don’t have to have the spiritual gift of encouragement, you can hone that skill. All you need do is practice! I […]
My dear Chapel Hill family: Lord have mercy! Christ have mercy! Lord have mercy! I am grieved by the unrest that is rending our country as we speak and feel compelled to reach out to you again, twice in one morning. One of the challenges of our present digital reality is that we are working […]
Good evening, friend! Do you remember the Inauguration Day windstorm? January 20, 1993. At the time, we lived on a one-acre parcel of land with beautiful Doug Firs on the back property. By the end of the day, we had 22 fewer Doug Firs…and a slightly smaller garage on one side! If you’ve ever lived […]
Good evening, friend: In 586 B.C., King Nebuchadnezzar’s Babylonian army conquered the people of Israel, sacked Jerusalem, and destroyed Solomon’s beautiful temple. As was their custom, they led masses of the vanquished Jews back to Babylon where they would be held in exile and assimilated into their culture. But fifty years later, the Babylonians were […]
Good evening, friend! I suffered a head injury in an ice-skating accident in 2003. One enduring consequence is tinnitus; a constant ringing in my ears. Actually, it’s more like white noise than ringing. The fall broke “hair cells” in my ear, resulting in this constant auditory reminder that I should have worn a helmet […]
Good evening, friend! Cyndi and I were walking in Gig Harbor the other day, one of our favorite things to do. As we passed one of the many little shops that is shuttered, we lamented anew our concern for those business owners and, frankly, for the economic welfare of our town. It grieves us to […]
Read More… from Sleep on This: The welfare of the city (May 26)