Angels We Have Heard on High
Hope is a big deal for me. Two reasons. One is a son whose continues to battle opioid addiction and for whom this season does not seem to hold much light. Grandchildren are the other. Both ...
Tag: future
What Do I Want for Christmas?
What do you want for Christmas? When my age could be captured by a single digit, the question would take weeks to answer. The pages of the Christmas catalogues from Eaton’s and Sears would become...
Suffering and Hope in the Tipi and the Cathedral
I don’t know if this story is true, if I dreamt it or wished it into being. But I know the imagery arose during a conversation with my son, Caleb, about the rough patch ahead in his quest to be free o...
Conquering the Limits of Willpower
“Shake it off,” we tell our grandchildren when they fall. When the kids were of pre-school age the words of encouragement were “You’re doing it, you’re doing it”. Our exhortations mean to convey ...
Walls – the Good, the Bad and the Ugly
Pass through the San Ysidro border crossing outside of Tijuana, turn west and follow Mexican Route 1D towards Rosarito. Look out the passenger window. A wall runs along the border; actually, two walls...
Have I Lost My Ability to Believe?
Caleb, my son, is back in jail. After a three-month “run” on heroin, cocaine and other cocktails, he was picked up on a breach of the conditions of his release. No new charges; only the past with...
If I relapse…. (Caleb)
Caleb was released into a native recovery house the middle of May. I talked with him by phone on May 16th. He sounded positive and happy. When Gaye and I arrived home from vacation nine days late...
A Story On The Way
Coming down Highway 89A from Flagstaff to Sedona is an 8 mile stretch of construction, aka gravel. A rogue piece bounces off the windshield of the Fiat, leaving a chip. My wife grabs her phone i...
What the US Could Learn from the United Church
In the post-election reaction in the US, I hear echoes of 1988 in The United Church of Canada. The years surrounding the famous decision not to allow sexual orientation to be a determining facto...
Leave or Take – a 3 dimensional question
The bed is covered with clothes, containers, medications and solutions for “what if?” scenarios. At one end sits a suitcase and duffel bag, both small enough to meet the carry-on baggage requirements ...