Category: Daily Life

This title may come across as sacrificial and spiritual, but that’s not totally the case. It is, however, a good way to sum up my first two days in Tanzania. I’ll start with the flight, though, since it figures into the events, and my attitude, that followed. It lasted over 28 hours, counting layovers in Minneapolis and Amsterdam. When we landed at Kilimanjaro International Airport Friday evening (Tanzania time), I had yet to rack up even 28 seconds of sleep. I had a sermon to preach Sunday morning, so I was really looking forward to some …

Bedtime came pretty early back when I was a kid. Hmm . . .  Come to think of it, it’s about the time I go to bed now. It’s easy at my age. But on a particular night in 1956, it was excruciating. It was Christmas Eve and Santa would be coming. Or would he? When I was six, most nights Dad put me to bed. He had a tender side. We sang songs together and he told stories until I drifted off into dreamland. Since Christmas vacation had started, I was dreaming of only …

Sometime after retirement, I began to cultivate a smile. Perhaps it was because of retirement itself. Or maybe now that I wasn’t working I finally had time for it. Whatever the reason, it wasn’t long before I began smiling at everybody. I’ve read smiling can make you live longer and look younger. It’s a natural facelift. I’ve been practicing this new smile for a few years now. It took a while for it to become a habit because a frown comes pretty naturally. In fact, sometimes I look like I’m frowning even when I’m not …

I got another great deal from Sirius radio for my birthday this spring. Three more years of crystal clear sound and seemingly unlimited variety. Due to a decent speaker system in my Honda, my neighbors can enjoy it too as I pull into my driveway on our quiet street. Often the dial is stuck on channel 6, enabling me to relive the ‘60s. It’s almost like I’m there in the studio with my favorite group. I can hear each voice. Each instrument. But something is missing. It isn’t the music selection. Or sound quality. Definitely …