Some people are said to dance to their own tune. Not me. I prefer a soundtrack.

Every trip needs a good soundtrack. Usually at some point during the beginning of the trip a particular album or artist will surface that seems to fit trip. I can think of numerous examples from my experiences. One year it was Mad Season that we listened to all the way to Mt. Rushmore and back. Jack Johnson’s Sing-A-Longs set the tone for one of my summer trips to Manila. Last summer Tenth Avenue North supplied the soundtrack as I roamed India for the first time.

It’s also interesting how each one has its own connection with the trip. There is something fun about listening to Matchbox 20 sing “Just three miles from the rest stop…” when you have been passing rest stops for the past Read more »

Lately I have been enamored with the refreshing pragmatism of the Philippines. Consider the underground passageways as an example. In Makati each intersection has an underground passage way to keep pedestrians out of traffic. It only takes one glance at the crazy traffic to see the common sense of that approach.

The downside to these passageways is obvious - the stairs going in and coming out. Walking several blocks entails many sets of stairs. And this is where the pragmatism surfaces once again. Each underground passage has escalators, but only going up. It's as if they are saying, "Ok people, we'll help you up the stairs, but if you can't even walk down stairs you probably should be taking a taxi or staying home."

And this pragmatism goes even deeper. These escalators are turned Read more »

This year, as Mother’s Day has been approaching, I’ve been thinking about a story that my mom used to tell. She was a great story teller and teaching for so many years left her with a lot of stories. I had the pleasure of having my mom as a teacher and this story includes me. While I’m not as good at telling stories as she was, I wanted to share this one.

Those who teach kindergarten are quite often called “mama” by mistake. Many children, having spent the past several years with their mother, call their teacher “mama” before they realize their mistake. My mom was accustomed to this and did not mind having dozens of different children calling her “mama.”

On one particular day Read more »

Have you ever been punched in the face by someone you haven’t even met?

That happened to me this week. The attacker was Richard Stearns, the author of a book I’m currently reading. I have not finished “The Hole in our Gospel” yet, so I will not be posting a review of it at this time, but this one passage did shake me up enough that I wanted to share it with my friends.

The part of the book that hit me in the face was Stearn’s modern paraphrase from Matthew 25. Stearn’s version goes like this:

For I was hungry, while you had all you needed. I was thirsty, but you drank bottled water. I was a stranger, and you wanted me deported. I needed clothes, but you needed more clothes. I was sick, and you pointed out the behaviors that led to my sickness. I was in prison, and you said I was getting what I deserved.

“Ouch,” is about all I can say at this point. I can tell something in me has to change. Read more »

I saw god today, tucked away in a small shrine with steel bars.

The bars where there to protect him- from people - mostly from vandals and thieves. This particular shrine was for Ganesha, but I’ve seen the same thing with other gods. Shrines to Shiva or Krishna or Rama can be found all over India, often with bars and locks to protect them.

When I saw this for the first time it struck me as odd, yet somehow familiar. I have seen this done back home in the US as well. We lock God away Read more »