Guatemala: Why We Go

The Away Team sets off for Guatemala tomorrow morning at 4:00. The trip begins with a bus ride to Newark International Airport, and if all goes well eleven or so hours later we will be greeting friends old and new at the airport in Guatemala City – Jorge, Adriana, Roberto, Ita, Israel; perhaps Pastor Tomas and his daughter Paola. As we make our way up the mountain to San Luca Toliman and Lake Atitlan, we will anticipate other reunions – staff and workers at the Spring of Hope Mission.

Our Guatemala Mission, whether you are a member of the Home Team or the Away Team – is all about people.  But we will know the names of very few of them and probably will never see the majority of them ever again.  So, why do we go? Continue reading →

A here and now gospel

Jack LaLanne died this past Sunday at age 96. Boomers and older remember Jack LaLanne for his television show, fitness centers and power juicer, among other things. LaLanne was one of the first in on the realization that a suburban, mechanized and eventually digitalized world would lead to the ubiquitous couch potato if we didn’t do something about it.  One of the many news reports this week said, “He preached the gospel of exercise, raw vegetables and clean living long after his contemporaries had traded in their bicycles for nursing home beds.”

Apparently Jack LaLanne was working out a couple hours a day well into his 90’s and was both physically and mentally vigorous until just recently. Good for Jack LaLanne.  While I am not very fond of the cheapening of the word, most of us would do well to heed his gospel. Continue reading →

Like a Good Neighbor

God knew what he was doing when he had Joanne move in next door to us. Joanne is as compulsive about snow shoveling as I am and that is a good thing since we share a driveway in our townhouse development.

Joanne is also an earlier riser, as I am, so most snowy mornings we are up early clearing our common asphalt. Sad to say, we have shared more conversation over our snow shovels than at any other time of the year. Other than when it snows, we mostly wave “good morning” or “how you doin?” on those rare occasions when we leave or arrive at home at the same time. We’re suburban Americans, after all. Continue reading →

Tucson: Where Was God?

Earlier this week I received an email from a friend. It was short, to the point and profoundly important. “I wonder how many other Christians struggle as I do when tragic events happen and ask, “Where Was God in all this?” and “Where Is God in all this?”

The questions are not new. That they are not new adds to their depth. Generation after generation men and women of faith have asked them over and over again. Answers have been offered, and some of them are very good answers. But maybe we find rest not when we have a satisfying answer but when have peace in living with the questions. Continue reading →

Money as Spiritual Stimulus

If you are employed – and thank God if you are, your paycheck should be bigger this week whether you received a first of the year raise or not. You probably know that part of the last-minute tax deal crafted by the President and the Congress is a one-time, one-year, reduction in Social Security taxes. Last year – and next year – you paid and will pay 6.2% of your income in FICA, Social Security, taxes. But this year, and this year alone, we will pay only 4.2% of our income (up to $106,800) to the Social Security Trust Fund. In other words, you get a 2% raise. Continue reading →