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Inspiration and hope

Apr
20

Puppy thoughts at Easter

It’s the day before Easter Sunday, 2019, and I took Chanel for a walk. I’m very fond of Chanel, although she belongs to my good friend Mary Ann. She’s a Morkie, which is a cross between a Maltese and a Yorkie. A really pretty dog – she’s small like a puppy but she’s not young like a puppy anymore.

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Chanel makes me think about love. There is no question she loves me, and this makes me feel good. When I approach her after being absent, her tail wags like crazy and her eyes light up. Is she thinking about the joy and comfort of our personal relationship? Do I wag my tail when I meet other people, even strangers?

During our walk this morning, Chanel reminded me of how much she appreciates exploring the world.… More

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Apr
08

I was an uncertain Samaritan

Last Sunday after church and lunch at a Mexican restaurant, I drove past a broken-down car with the owner, a young woman, sitting on the ground with a grubby child by a flat tire. The contents of her trunk were strewn in the dirt. She was speaking on her cell phone.

I thought about stopping. But I had a full suite of things on my ToDo list. I had noticed that many other cars just drove on by. The scene reminded me of the Good Samaritan story.

I turned the car around and came back. Rolled down my windscreen and asked the woman if I could help. She was talking on her cellphone when I interrupted her. She asked me if I had a spare tire donut, which I did not.… More

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Mar
30

Imagine what heaven is like

WHATS IN THIS BLOG: • Heaven in country songs. • Heaven in hiking. • How to imagine heaven by Max Lucado.

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HEAVEN IN COUNTRY SONGS I enjoy country & western music – to listen to or to dance to. Here are some words from a song by Tanya Tucker: When I die I may not go to heaven I don’t know if they let cowboys in If they don’t just let me go to Texas, Boy! Texas is as close as I’ve been.

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Another country song about heaven is by Hank Williams, Junior. If heaven ain’t a lot like Dixie I don’t wanna go If heaven ain’t a lot like Dixie I’d just as soon stay home If they don’t have a Grand Ole Opry Like they do in Tennessee Just send me to hell or New York City It would be about the same to me

HEAVEN IN HIKING These songs are cute and humorous.… More

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Feb
24

How to balance science and faith.

WHATS IN THIS BLOG: • My talk on Fracking and Global Warming at Oral Roberts University. • The faith of a neurobiologist. • Tensions he sees between science and faith. • Deciding to marry – science or faith? • Netflix challenge of the week. ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ PREAMBLE: I’m giving a talk this coming week called Fracking and Global Warming: What’s the Connection? This is a new topic for me and I had to put some research into it. The talk is at Oral Roberts University in Tulsa, Oklahoma on Wednesday 27 February at 1:15 pm and at 2:15 pm (same talk at both times in room 102 of the Global Learning Center). I appreciate the invite by Dr John Korstad who reaches two different courses on Sustainability at the university.… More

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Jan
31

Six white boomers

Kim McGrath invited me to talk to her first-graders about Christmas in Australia. So with my rabbit trap, boomerang, and didgeridoo, I turned up in December 2018 at her first-grade class at Independence Elementary school in Kansas. Six-year olds!

I can make a noise with the didgeridoo, and the kiddos found this entertaining.

Miss McGrath is a top-notch teacher. She modulates her voice wonderfully, is always encouraging, and corrects her students gently when its needed. And she is multi-tasking every minute of the day. After an hour and a half presenting to her class, I was exhausted. My esteem for such teachers, who do this all day and all week, went up through the ceiling.

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Climbing around the red rocks that Gallup, New Mexico, is famous for.… More

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Jan
07

Grandpa loses house to fire.

My birthday is January 7. A few years ago I didn’t have a party and there was no-one to celebrate with. I went to the grocery store to buy some Chicken Teriyaki frozen dinner for my lonely pity-party.

In one of the aisles, I saw a man in a wheelchair trying to reach down and pick up a box of frozen dinner from the floor. I offered to help, picked up three boxes from the floor, put one in his cart and two back in the shelf. His hands shook – maybe Parkinsons?

This small action changed my perspective: FROM — feeling down because I had no-one to celebrate my birthday with, TO — realizing how well off I was because I could walk and run and play pickleball.… More

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Dec
31

A cute new children’s book by Kim McGrath.

Kim Pollock McGrath is my step-daughter who lives in Independence, Kansas. This is an inspiring story about how God intervened – around the time of her sister’s tragic death – and Kim became an author.

Kim is an elementary school teacher. For many years, she wanted to write a children’s book. Lots of ideas came and went, but she never had the confidence to write. That changed in 2018.

Here is the story in her own words: “Four years ago, while driving out of town, I saw a little tree out in the open field all by itself. Something about that little tree touched me in a special way.

Over the next three years, I would occasionally notice a lonely little tree while I was traveling.… More

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Dec
10

Is it a mouse or a rabbit or a mini-kangaroo? No — it’s a bilby.

I HAVE NEVER SEEN A BILBY, although I lived in Australia for 28 years. But I wish…

There used to be two species of bilby. The lesser bilby became extinct in the 1950s. The greater bilby is an endangered species.

The following is copied from an article in BBC News. See the link HERE:

A rare marsupial that once ran wild in Australia’s state of New South Wales has been reintroduced into the state for the first time in more than a century.

Bilbies – small nocturnal mammals with long, rabbit-like ears – were last recorded in the state in 1912. But now 30 captive-bred animals were released into a large predator-free enclosure near the town of Narrabri, northwest of Sydney.… More

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Nov
09

Jessica Eubank: an Inspiration.

WHATS IN THIS BLOG: • Cerebral palsy. • The danger of driving. • Frustration. • When things seem hopeless. • The car that changed Jessica’s life.

Now and then I hear of a heart-warming story that is truly inspirational. This story was written from the perspective of Jessica’s mom who I know rather well. Here it is:

CEREBRAL PALSY. When you ask expectant parents if they’re hoping for a boy or girl, often the response will be, “Either as long as it’s happy and healthy!” Sometimes life throws a curve ball and the child you have been waiting for is not what you expect.

My eldest daughter Jessica was so excited to see the world that she came two months early.… More

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Oct
03

An Eleventh Commandment?

WHATS IN THIS BLOG: • Story of the rich young ruler. • The interpretation. • An eleventh commandment? • The promise. • Takeaway.

 

STORY OF THE RICH YOUNG RULER.

A certain ruler asked Him, “Good Teacher, what shall I do to inherit eternal life?” Jesus said to him,” …You know the commandments: ‘DO NOT COMMIT ADULTERY, DO NOT MURDER, DO NOT STEAL, DO NOT TESTIFY FALSELY, HONOR YOUR FATHER AND YOUR MOTHER.’” He replied, “I have kept all these things from my youth.”

When Jesus heard this, He said to him, “You still lack one thing; sell everything that you have and distribute the money to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; and come, follow Me.”

But when he heard these things, he became very sad, for he was extremely rich.… More

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