by Greg | Feb 2, 2012 | Blog Posts
Philosophy New Proofs for the Existence of God: Contributions of Contemporary Physics and Philosophy, by Robert J. Spitzer The Physics of Immortality, Frank J. Tipler Religion/Spirituality Have a Little Faith, by Mitch Albom Jesus Wept: When Faith and Depression Meet, by Barbara Cawthorne Crafton Shaped by God’s Heart: The Passion and Practices of Missional Churches, Milfred Minatrea A Door Set Open: Grounding Change in Mission and Hope, by Peter L. Steinke Celebration of Discipline: The Path to Spiritual Growth, by Richard J. Foster The Naked Now, by Richard Rohr Falling Upward: A Spirituality for the Two Halves of Life, Richard Rohr Nine Lives: In Search of the Sacred in Modern India, by William Dalrymple Guide for Grief: Help in Surviving the Stages of Grief and Bereavement After Loss, by Rodger Murchison Fiction The Book of Sorrows, by Walter Wangerin The Red Tent, Anita Diamant Poetry The Back Chamber, by Donald Hall Leadership The Secret: What Great Leaders Know and Do, by Ken Blanchard and Mark Miller Ecology The View From Lazy Point: A Natural Year in an Unnatural World, by Carl Safina Drifting Into Darien, by Janisse Ray Miscellaneous Non-Fiction Salt: A World History, Mark Kurlansky Harlan Hubbard, by Wendell Berry Unbroken: A World War II Story of Survival, Resilience, and Redemption by Laura Hillenbrand Travels in Siberia, by Ian Frazier Operation Dark Heart: Spycraft and Special Ops on the Frontlines of Afghanistan – and the Path to Victory, by Lt. Col. Anthony...
by Greg | Jan 17, 2012 | Blog Posts
Last weekend Amy and I did something that was good for our marriage and good for our souls. We were having an early lunch together right after yoga class and I reminded her that I did not have any commitments that day or the next. Furthermore Aaron would be away at the church’s Jr-Sr. retreat so we had two days to ourselves. After a bit of exchanging comments like, “I don’t know, what do you want to do,” we decided to swing by the house, hastily pack a bag, and head up to the North Georgia mountains and spend the night in a cabin – all without making any kind of reservations. Not only did we find a delightful cabin, but we found a music venue in Dahlonega that had as their special guests a guitar duo we had heard on NPR this past fall (Storyhill, in case you are curious. You listen to their music on www.storyhill.com ). It was not a complicated weekend. The music venue was a small restaurant that seated maybe fifty people all to listen to two guys with two guitars sing into two microphones. The cabin was sparse, rustic, but cozy and warm overlooking a creek in the mountains. We did a bit of shopping, but spent very little money on the pottery, fudge, and beef jerky we brought home. We both agreed it was one of the best weekends we have enjoyed together in a long, long time. It is amazing how often the simple things are also the best things. Yet just as often we tend to enslave ourselves with the...
by Greg | Jan 7, 2012 | Blog Posts
Most every year, following Christmas Day, I try to take a few days and backpack up in the mountains of North Georgia or North Carolina. I admit that it is, weather-wise, somewhat of a gamble. In years past I have found myself trudging through snow and generally frozen to the bone. Other times I find those last days of the year unseasonably warm. This year was a bit normal I suppose. Along with a friend, I trudged through some light snowfall, a little rain, and through a lot of clouds. Still, a bad day in the mountains is a good day overall. On our last night of the hike was were forced to dine inside our tents while rain sputtered outside. The fear of bears looking for food in my sleeping bag was sublimated by my wanting to stay dry and reasonably warm. A rising sun (and no bears) greeted us the next morning and on New Year’s Eve I emerged from the mountains – a bit grimy and, shall we say, smelling a bit woodsy – and joined my wife as we heralded in the new year with dear friends. A New Year…a clean slate…an opportunity to do something new…or start over again. On the one hand it is just another day on the calendar. Some of you may not have had any time off in the last week or so, and so the transitions means little. Yet the days are indeed getting longer, and like a blank canvas they stretch before us waiting our creative marks. We mistakenly assume that Christmas marks the end of the holidays...
by Greg | Dec 22, 2011 | Blog Posts
There are plenty of places where I am completely out of my element: department stores, especially the cosmetic section; a golf course, any golf course; and watching an episode of “Glee” on television. I do not pretend to be adept in any and all environments. Barns, however, I know about. I was practically, much to the chagrin of my beloved wife and other refined folk, raised in a barn. The dairy barn of my childhood was unbearably hot in the summer, with the body heat of twenty cows mixed in with the stifling air perfumed with grain, dust, and goodness knows what else. In the wintertime it could be equally miserable. Often cold and wet, the only source of warmth was a small gas heater that thawed our wet hands in between milkings. On particularly bitter days the end of a cow’s tail could provide an uncomfortable swat if the dangling mud and manure was frozen. Nonetheless the barn was more or less home for a good portion of my childhood and it was in the barn that we shared stories, memories and passed along wisdom. A stable is a more polite word for barn, but it is basically the same thing: housing for livestock. Even the cleanest of stables are nothing more than a barn filled with the sights, sounds and, yes, smells of animals. Quite an amazing beginning for the birth of God, don’t you think? Over the centuries we have domesticated our stables and imagined them as quaint Italian villas along a hillside, forgetting or not really considering that it was just a barn. Perhaps we...
by Greg | Nov 29, 2011 | Blog Posts
How have your “Holidays and Holy Days” gone so far? For me they officially started with the annual Jr.-Sr. Backpacking Trip (which has now been dubbed “Back to the Wild”). It was a great walk in the woods for a few days and the only incidents encountered were a few tents that leaked. Still, everyone in the group maintained a great attitude and I returned with the same number of campers I left with. There was one casualty. On the first day of hiking my hands were starting to swell a bit, which is not unusual given the amount of sodium ingested in a typical meal around the campfire, and so I slid my wedding band off and put it in my pocket. Later that evening at Betty Creek Gap where we were setting up our tents for the night I reached in my pocket to retrieve the ring. You guessed it…gone. There is probably little need to elaborate further. Suffice it to say my wedding ring appears to be lost forever. This was the original ring Amy placed on my finger over 23 years ago and outside of occasional events like this hiking trip, I have never had the need to take it off, even briefly. Amy was understanding, even sympathetic towards me. She knows how sentimental I am. I can replace the ring with another ring that will look like it, but it will not be the same ring. It is just a symbol, I know, but it is an important symbol of a promise that I am to keep until death. For years I could look...
Recent Comments