Letter from a Bride
I got an email last week that I was not looking forward to. It had been four years since I officiated the wedding of a young couple at my church – I’ll just call them Bill and Kimberly. On paper, you would have thought they had everything going for them. They were both professionals from […]
A Year (and a Lifetime) Ago
Tonight I was reminded again that sometimes in the crush of the day to day, I need to remember to sit and be grateful every now and again. It started innocently enough. I was dealing with a typical “first world” problem and rearranging some stuff in our refrigerator so that I could somehow wedge more […]
Intrinsic Good
There was a lot to be thankful for today. It’s the first day of Spring after the mildest Winter on record, Detroit had an 80 degree day in March, Julia celebrated her eighteen month birthday and I have the evening off! For all of those great things, I am thankful. But I’m also finding myself […]
Scenes From a Coffee Shop
Not long ago, I decided to take a Monday away from the office and work remotely at my favorite coffee shop in town. Time away like that is surprisingly productive – especially with the crush of distractions and interruptions that can come at the office. As I was burning through the mountains of correspondence, a […]
Heart Day’s Eve
I rocked my little girl to sleep tonight. I know that’s not such a news flash. In fact, it’s pretty routine around our house. Even though all the experts say you shouldn’t let your baby fall asleep in your arms, but lay them down while they’re still awake so they can self soothe and all […]
Christmas Greetings from the Farm
It’s Christmas Eve at the farm on Willow Road. Another crystal clear and cold night and we are all nestled around the fire after a day of visits with family and friends, two great meals (masterfully prepared by Jocelyn) and an evening service at St. Paul Church. My dad is starting to nod his head […]
Goodbye, Bill
I didn’t want to go too long before I paused to remember the passing of one of the last of the old farmers. Ever since our family made its home on sixty acres in Saline Township, Bill’s family was a part of the fabric of the community. His great grandfather settled there around 1870 and […]
Autumn in the Midwest and Elsewhere
Hey – been quite a while. For those of you who have been following our story, I want to apologize. After a year of pounding out these posts in reasonably quick succession, I’ve found myself in kind of a winter of my motivation. I came back from India and honestly wanted to spend some time […]
Good Morning CEM!
editor’s note – sorry for the tardiness of my post! There have been a lot of power outages in Andhra Pradesh due to a coal strike and the internet has been pretty spotty! It’s just after 5am on Monday here at CEM, and call to prayer from the mosque nearby cut quietly through the heavy […]
Wheels Up for India
Today is the day I’ve been anticipating (and dreading) for months now. Jocelyn and I prayed and talked together in February after Julia got out of the hospital, and we agreed that I needed to think about re-connecting with our friends in India. Back in early 2002, I was in the middle of my transition […]