I have written before about my early morning routine of running the streets of our subdivision. That routine includes running each of the nine cul-de-sacs in the development. Adding the cul-de-sacs to my route ensures enough distance to meet my mileage goal. Miss a cul-de-sac, miss the satisfaction of having accomplished my goal.

My service to our presbytery has recently taken a busy turn with significant business before a couple of the committees with which I am involved. The issues are complex and take not only too many Zoom calls, emails, text messages, and telephone conversations, but a lot of thinking time to process new information and formulate next moves. What better thinking time than the morning run?

So intense has been my thinking, though, that I sometimes end my morning run wondering – and certainly not remembering – if I made all the turns onto cul-de-sacs that my routine requires. Was I so lost in thought that I simply kept running instead of making that left or right turn onto Ursa Cove or left turn onto Bruin Pass? Okay, the time I was out running indicates the mileage was accomplished. I guess autopilot worked.

In fact, if I miss a cul-de-sac or two on my morning runs little damage is done other than to my adherence to a dull routine. But my (over) thinking the issues that preoccupy me can also mean that I miss more than a jog down a cul-de-sac. Am I so distracted by my mind’s meandering that I forget to turn down the cul-de-sacs of the responsibilities and joys I have as husband, father, grandfather, friend, and neighbor? Will I come to the end of my course having neglected the important for the immediate?

Some of the cul-de-sacs in our subdivision are only a few houses long. Others are home to many houses. So it is with the cul-de-sacs of my life. Some are occasional and brief, others are daily and significant and the source of much good. If my life is to be filled with all that God intends, I must not neglect to run the cul-de-sacs.

My cynicism can too often get the better of me.  I should not have clicked on the recent Guardian article with its headline “An ex-Intel CEO’s mission to build a Christian AI: ‘hasten the coming of Christ’s return’.”

I did not expect a Christian-friendly article from the Guardian, but they played it fairly straight with very little sarcasm or disparagement. My eyes did roll, however, when I read this quote from the tech CEO: “My life mission has been [to] work on a piece of technology that would improve the quality of life of every human on the planet and hasten the coming of Christ’s return.”

Forcing Jesus’ hand on the whole second coming thing has been a part of Christian lore for generations and is a key doctrine among some American Evangelicals. In Mark 13, Jesus is talking with his disciples about the end times and his coming to gather the elect unto himself. The key “force his hand” verse is Mark 13:10, “And the gospel must first be proclaimed to all nations” (ESV) where a simple indicative becomes a condition. “If the gospel is proclaimed to all nations, then Jesus must come.” Continue reading →

Becky and I have been home from our trip to Brazil for nearly a week now. Things are falling back into our normal routine and fewer Portuguese phrases are coming to mind when we are out and about.

But what a trip it was. Thank you to those of you who commented on our photos posted on social media and here at “Observations” (email version) the past two Fridays.

It was, as I suggested before we left, a tale of two trips. The first trip took us to the breathtaking beauty of Iguaçu Falls in southern Brazil (with a couple of side trips into Argentina), and the second trip took us to the neighborhoods of Jardim América, Belo Horizonte, in southeastern Brazil, where we have spent so many days over the past 25 years. Continue reading →

In anticipation of our trip to Brazil, Becky and I recently (re)watched “The Mission,” one of our favorite movies and filmed where we will be for the first half of our journey.  We are staying at Iguaçu Falls as depicted in the movie poster and will travel into Argentina to visit the ruins of one of the Jesuit missions that are important in the story “The Mission” tells.

In the film Robert De Niro plays Rodrigo Mendoza, a slave trader and murderer whose penance for one of his many crimes is to join Brother Gabriel (Jeremy Irons) in the work of the mission being built in the jungle above the falls.  While not a “Christian” movie, the story told is the story of Mendoza’s slow conversion to Christian faith. Mendoza studies Scripture – we hear him citing 1 Corinthians 13 on more than one occasion. The former slave trader comes to understand the power of faith, hope, and love through the community at the mission – the Jesuits and, especially, the Guarani people who have found shelter and meaning at the mission. Continue reading →

Becky and I were at the county fair last weekend. A warm Saturday afternoon with our daughter and her family – what could be better? Midwest Americana. Our granddaughters tested some of the carnival rides and all of us rode the Ferris wheel to high above the midway.  There was even a trained sea lion show – what else would you expect in Saint Joseph County, Michigan? And, of course, the 4H kids with their displays of rabbits, pigs, sheep, goats, and cows.

We dined on corndogs and Polish sausages with sauerkraut, but declined the deep-fried delicacies – elephant ears, funnel cakes, cookie dough, cheesecake, Oreos, and Twinkies.

In a week we head off on a long-anticipated trip to Brazil where, among other things, we will spend time with good friends we have known for many years. We can hardly wait. We test as intermediate Portuguese speakers and will be able not only to make our way through airports, but enjoy good, even deep, conversation with our friends. We will talk about life and faith and tell stories as we catch up with one another.

I am not sure we will be able to talk about the deep-fried Twinkies at the county fair. Google Translate says we could say “Twinkies fritos.” But how might we explain this American phenomenon? Continue reading →