Sassy Comebacks to Non-Coffee Drinkers

August 7, 2010

Recently on Facebook, several of us shared what our drink de jour was. With the exception of two people, everyone was brewing flavored coffee and/or adding flavored creamer. One FB friend said she started the day with a chilled bottle of Mountain Dew. Another one said (get this) she doesn’t drink coffee. Immediately, I wanted [...]

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“Bull Keep Out”

August 3, 2010

This sign could be taken two ways: 1. There is a bull here, so keep out. 2. If you are a bull, keep out. Depending on which reading you choose, your day could end safely at home, or your end could stick sharply on a horn. If you choose #1, you’re guaranteed not to get [...]

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The Vintage (or Virtual?) Pastor’s Wife

July 30, 2010

Let’s call her…Margaret.* Doesn’t she look sweet? And she probably was. To me, this anonymous woman looks like the vintage pastor’s wife. A nice lady in the truest sense of those words. I bet her tidy home had doilies on the furniture and the aroma of made-from-scratch meals in the air. Me? I’ve got dust [...]

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Final Voyage: A Story of Arctic Disaster and One Fateful Whaling Season

July 8, 2010

by Peter Nichols nonfiction 294 pages, hardback G.P. Putnam’s Sons, 2009 at amazon.com There’s nothing like a dangerous adventure on the frigid arctic seas to read about from the comfort of my warm, cushy bed. Ahh… But for the real people whose lives and fortunes followed the whaling frenzy in the 17th-19th centuries, “adventure” was [...]

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Debi’s train ride home

July 5, 2010

After a busy, business weekend in St. Louis, I took the train back to Kansas City. When I awoke from a nap, the view I saw from my window is at left. Ah… It reminded me of the images that my ministry partner Fawn and I use in our material for Keep a Smile On [...]

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Sidetracked in Bible study (again)

July 4, 2010

I should sprinkle bread crumbs in my Bible. Or maybe place numbered sticky notes to leave a trail. Or draw color-coded arrows in the margins that are dated and cross-referenced. The problem is that every question I ask in the course of studying Scripture leads to more layers and more questions! Soon, I find myself [...]

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Cheerful Money: Me, My Family and the Last Days of Wasp Splendor

July 1, 2010

by Tad Friend nonfiction 351 pages, hardback Little, Brown and Company, 2010 at amazon.com The cover compelled me to pick this up at my local library’s “New Releases” section. I mean, c’mon. Do these people look cheerful? I had to start reading it. Author Tad Friend is a staff writer for The New Yorker, so [...]

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Tea With Hezbollah: Sitting At the Enemies’ Table – Our Journey Through the Middle East

June 24, 2010

by Ted Dekker and Carl Medearis nonfiction 224 pages, hardback Doubleday Religion, 2010 at amazon.com Being a fan of Ted Dekker’s novels, the idea of reading nonfiction by him intrigued me. Plus, I like to read ethnographies. Dekker’s coauthor is Carl Medearis, a Canadian Christian who’s spent decades in the Middle East and served as [...]

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Wondering about “one way” to God?

June 12, 2010

Comedian Jim Gaffigan made the remark that if you want to make everyone in a room uncomfortable, just start talking about Jesus. His name (Jesus’, not Jim’s) is immediately divisive. So are His words. (Again, Jesus’ words, not Jim’s. Unless you’re a vegan and take offense to Jim’s adoration of bacon.) Jesus said, “I am [...]

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Of panic and pickles

June 1, 2010

The double hamburger shouldered a thick layer of cheese like a weight lifter balancing a bowed steel rod of iron discs behind his straining neck. Hyuh! The veggies (lettuce, tomato, pickle and onion) on the hefty sandwich served as a token garnish, not unlike a sumo wrestler’s loin cloth. Eew! Eating that cheeseburger and then [...]

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