Contend for the faith

It literally was like a scene from a movie… Before they opened the doors for people the stream in at the funeral home, two military members stood in front of a flag draped coffin. One was the Marine Corps Inspector/Instructor who ran the closest reserve center. I was the other one, a chaplain.

Someone recently asked me what my hopes were regarding the recent release of my book From Rubble to Redemption…A Ground Zero Chaplain Remembers. I was surprised at how quickly I responded. I told him that the book is about rubble, tragedy, and loss. It is also about…

I recently submitted my manuscript for the upcoming book From Rubble to Redemption-A Ground Zero Chaplain Remembers. It is a memoir, but so much mare than that. It is an invitation to an encounter with God in the midst of the rubble of our failures…

These next weeks I will be posting material from my upcoming book, Chirps From The PiIe. It is a memoir of sorts of my time as chaplain at Ground Zero in the weeks following 9/11. Hopefully it is much more than that. My prayer is that the reader will feel…

The geese in the distance were honking their intention to get back up north. It’s 2021 and the ice storm in Oregon is over. Some of the more odious pandemic restrictions are being eased; just enough to hint at some sense of normalcy after a nightmarish year of lockdowns, wildfires…

Fifty at a time our sad pilgrimage began. Every passenger on the NYC passenger ferry had lost a family member…a husband… a wife.. a mom… a dad… a child. The sailings were timed to the minute… choreographed and structured to provide some sense of safety. I was…

To my family and friends who are watching footage of what’s presently happening in Portland Oregon, allow me to give this brief update and give you leave to quit following me on Facebook or on this site if…

Today I learned that rioters in Seattle tried using quick drying cement to trap police in a precinct building they were attempting to incinerate. We’ve seen ample footage shot by ‘mostly’ peaceful…

Well the mob in Eugene is coming for the cross. I had the privilege for over a decade to teach at the then Eugene Bible College. A former student contacted me last night and shared a link to a local news feed that reported that the mob of mostly peaceful protestors is coming after the 50 foot cross that used to be a landmark in Eugene.  In 1997 it was moved to the campus of what is now called New Hope Christian College.

My undergraduate degree is in History. I had an emphasis on German history…particularly the period known as the Weimar Republic. I was fascinated to learn  that otherwise sane, brilliant disciplined people could so quickly surrendered their wills, their children and ultimately their lives…

We were walking along Peach Tree Street…We heard a scuffle up ahead and some come police officers running towards the next corner…Next thing I know… Pastor Larry was running too… He got up to the scene just as they cuffed one of the combatants… Then one of the Atlanta cops looked at Larry and said. “Oh Hi Chaplain…”

 I’ve never been much a headphones type of guy. During this social distancing nightmare though, I’ve taken to doing long walks with headphones attached. It’s become a sort of ritual. I see people blocks ahead and I dutifully do the right thing… I go out into the road and concede the sidewalk…it’s a Corona thing.