Posts by D C

In 2007, I had a life-changing experience when I traveled across the country to interview monks, nuns, and retreat leaders. I wanted to hear their wisdom about what we as a country might have learned from 9/11. They did not disappoint me. It was my students who prompted me to take this journey and conduct…

The metaphor that came to mind last month was that the music has changed. The last nine to ten years have been dominated by a tone of fear, belittling, obsession with conspiracies, and anger. That tone began a decade ago when Trump propagated the belief that Obama wasn’t born in the US and was thereby…

When my wife and I are in a restaurant and are waiting for the food to arrive, she sometimes  whispers, “Let’s not sit here like an old married couple who have nothing to say to each other.”  This past week, she offered an example by sharing something she read recently online.  The post invited her…

My family has been a fan of Mark Knopfler’s music since Dire Straits first appeared on the scene. When our boys were very young, the one song they most wanted to hear and sing along with was “Money for Nothing.” Only recently have I stumbled upon another of Knopfler’s songs, “All the Roadrunning,” that speaks…

There are many ways to enjoy the Olympic Games. As a country, we seemed obsessed with the medal count, forgetting that only a small percentage of the 10,500 athletes will win a medal. I find the most inspirational Olympic stories have little to do with medals won. These stories remind us that the Olympic spirit,…

Every one of us has a self-selected soundtrack as we live out our lives. I’m referring to the music we have on when we’re in the car or the music we have on in the background at home or at work. Even as the books on our shelves reveal something about us, so does the…

My wife has many traits that I admire, but two of her greatest are her strength and her empathy. Like her father, my wife strikes up conversations with strangers easily and manages to put most people at ease. I was reminded of this recently when we were in a local appliance business in northern Wisconsin…

Every summer, I spend time with one of my favorite authors, Sigurd Olson. For me, Olson is a guide, a person whose words transport into the power of wilderness. Olson spent his life exploring wilderness, becoming one of the leading spokespersons in the drive to preserve it. Living from 1899 to 1982, Olson grew up…

Ever since I was a child, I’ve had the wish that everyone would be given at least one “do-over” in life. When I was young, I’m pretty sure that was my response to tragedy. I was only ten years old when the janitor for the church where my father was pastor was seriously injured in…

The challenge of the ancient prophets isn’t that they seem out of date, but rather that they  speak so forcefully to our current situation.  I was reminded of this earlier this week when a group I belong to directed me for my morning reading to Isaiah 58: 1-12 in the Hebrew Bible.  If I was…