This is not a plea for messages of consolation, nor does anyone need to feel sorry for my loss.  But there was sadness in the news that my friend had died.

I call him my friend and am glad to do so, for our friendship was hard-won. My friend and I served the same congregation, I as pastor and he as part of the staff I inherited when I was called to the church.  We did not agree theologically or about the hot-button issues of those days. Our conversations were sometimes heated and sometimes very personal. Partisans in the congregation sought to make the most of our disagreement and did their best to divide the congregation over it.  But we defied their schemes and became friends instead, our disagreements mostly intact.

It’s not that I think the issues between us were not important; they were hugely important: the nature of the gospel and faithful living. What I believed then I believe now, and perhaps with a heightened sense of the importance of it. My job, though, was not to change my friend. Rather I was to follow Peter’s admonition in 1 Peter 3:15, “in your hearts honor Christ the Lord as holy, always being prepared to make a defense to anyone who asks you for a reason for the hope that is in you; yet do it with gentleness and respect…”

It had been 25 years since I had seen my friend face to face, and there had been only a handful of emails or text messages in the interim. But I thought of him if not often then with thanks for our friendship. Continue reading →

Conventional wisdom advises much caution if not a firm prohibition on talking about politics and religion when travelling abroad. Avoiding such topics is one of the top ten reminders when preparing folks for international mission trips.

I’ll get back to violating the forbidden topics conversation rule, but first a very quick summary of our past two weeks:  Great!!!  Becky and I arrived in Lisbon, Portugal, on Thursday morning, April 4, and left just after noon on Wednesday, April 17.  Yes, two glorious weeks.  For those who enjoy Google Maps, our itinerary took us to Lisbon, Sintra, Evora, Monsaraz, Redondo, Evoramonte, Porto, Aveiro, Peneda-Geres National Park, Ponte de Lima, and even a brief foray into Galicia, Spain. I’ve posted a few photos in the gallery below.

But back to those conversations against which conventional wisdom cautions. We found a tour guide to take us from Porto to Aveiro (the Venice of Portugal) and liked him so much we asked him to show us Peneda-Geres National Park another day. The sojourn into Spain was a bonus during our national park tour.  One of the first things our guide told us on the drive from Porto south to Aveiro is that he doesn’t think Aveiro is at all like Venice, despite the gondola-like salt boats they use for tours through the canals of the city.  I liked that honesty, and I think he is right about the comparison with Venice. Continue reading →

Becky and I are leaving today for a couple of weeks in Portugal.  Stories to tell when we return.

The Three Crosses, Rembrandt van Rijn, 1653

Good Friday.  Good for all the reasons it first appeared so bad. Love Lustres at Calvary, one of the Puritan prayers in the Valley of Vision (you ought to have a copy!), captures a sense of the paradox of the day.  Read the entire prayer at the Banner of Truth site. And ponder these few lines from the prayer and you consider Good Friday: Continue reading →

Last week my presbytery travels took me to western Ohio, and somewhere between Celine and Greenville I noticed a sign indicating the stretch of two-lane highway I was on is the Annie Oakley Pike. On my return trip from Greenville, just south of North Star, I saw the sign pointing to Annie Oakley’s grave. I took the detour.

Annie Oakley is a name from my Baby Boomer past. The details of her life are compelling, but not what I remember about Annie Oakley. I suppose my earliest memories of Annie Oakley come from an old TV western series that used Annie’s name but fictionalized just about everything else about her. And then there is the slightly more accurate musical Annie Get Your Gun (“There’s No Business Like Show Business”). In fact, Annie Oakley was in show business along with Buffalo Bill Cody and Sitting Bull.

So, I have been thinking about Annie Oakley and those childhood memories connected to her. You know, it was a good thing to have at least one cowgirl among all those cowboys of 1950s TV. But mostly those memories take me back to a time long ago. It would be easy to say simpler, even better times, but I am guessing my memory would be failing me. Simpler, maybe. Better?  Probably not. Continue reading →