Emotionally: I’m done Mentally: I’m drained Spiritually: I’m dead Physically: I smile That’s one concise and painfully honest piece of soul-searching, isn’t it?  I’ve been there. That state is indicative of living with an empty bucket. In my last newsletter and blog I asked, “What fills your bucket?” When your bucket is full, life is...Read More

Sometimes, all too infrequently, life feels full and rewarding. Things are clicking. You’re in the flow. People are lovely. Hope saturates. Your well-being bucket is full. I repeat…that is all too infrequent. A full bucket is extremely rare. Life has a maddening way of kicking holes in our buckets. Shoot, WE have a way of...Read More

“How on earth are you not a quivering mass on the floor unable to function in the world?” That is a composite of the feeling I was having as I listened to one of my clients pour out his life story to me. Trauma was an everyday thing to him growing up. Horrific neglect, abuse,...Read More

I casually mentioned to the cashier, “You’re really good at what you do!” as she deftly and efficiently scanned my items and packed them in the bag. Her response was surprising…”Ha, it’s my next to last day of doing this after seven years. Tomorrow, I turn in my name tag and will be leaving this...Read More

Apparently, a good number of you have had angry encounters with people lately. At least that’s what I surmised based on the reactions I received from my last post about a confrontation with an irritated pedestrian in the Kroger parking lot. Those events can be unnerving. Thankfully, I believe they are the exception in our...Read More

A few weeks ago I was making a quick run to the grocery store. As I pulled into the lot, I noticed a man walking off to my right turn, face me and gesture something that was full of contempt and rage. I wasn’t going too fast. I think I was just in his way....Read More

“Dude, back off!” is what I thought as I glanced at my rear view mirror this morning while driving downtown. Turns out “dude” was a lady in a hurry, tailgating me for blocks while I stewed and mini-raged. That is, until I had the sudden sinking realization that I, too, tend to tailgate from time...Read More

2 boys. 2 stories. Several weeks ago, my four-year-old grandson Henry and I were watching the Disney movie The Good Dinosaur, one of his favorites. At the climax of the action in the movie, Henry jumped off the couch with a roar and began running around the room pretending to be Arlo (the good dino)...Read More

Three years ago, yesterday, I entered into my “third being”. OK, that’s a bit dramatic but it really is true. My “first being” was through age 20 growing up and attending college in western Pennsylvania. My “second being” began when I moved to Chicago to begin training for ministry, subsequently spending forty-five years serving as...Read More

We are hurtling through life. At least that’s what it feels like to me. I find myself constantly shocked that we are halfway through a month or at another change of seasons or I realize that I am more than two thirds through my life. (Three fourths?!) It’s not that I am sad about it…just...Read More