My Birthday Books
When I opened my birthday present, aside from the gift itself, out fell two twenties and a ten. And the first thing I thought was, Now I can buy more groceries. As you know, sometimes the life of a writer sucks. But I do have a summer software contract lined up, which should fund this […]
What My Doctor Was Afraid Of
You may recall last year an off-the-wall post scratched out at Dunkin Donuts that a wrote on the way to an MRI lab. I had been suffering from depression and headaches, sometimes so serious that I couldn’t think straight. Rarely, in these cases, the symptoms indicate a brain tumor or some other neurological problem. So […]
Easy to Be a Good Customer
When I first met Jeffrey Tanner, fictional costar of my short story “The Widow’s Granddaughter,” he told me, “Nice guys finish last.” I didn’t believe him then, and I still think he was seriously misguided. Fortunately, that character discovered that there is much more to life than alpha-male-ism. What an appropriate memory for the days […]
Memorize in the Morning
This past weekend, Rabbi Rich Nichol made a particular point that struck me, in the context of family and parenting. He said, “Memorize in the morning.” That is, when their kids were young, he and his wife Sue made it a family tradition to spend a few minutes each morning memorizing passages from the Scriptures. […]
Peace from the Ashes
Note: This post is an extended version of the comments I made at church a couple weeks ago. Many of us have heard of the “peace that transcends all understanding,” from one of the most famous snippets of the New Testament: “and the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and […]
Wearing Haman’s Hat
This past Saturday night began the Jewish holiday of Purim. Since Saturday was also the Sabbath, after morning services and lunch at our synagogue, we had games for the kids, crafts, a class on the book of Esther, a Jewish folk dancing class, pizza. Then we had evening services, followed by reading the story of […]
A Song to Bring Peace (Music Video)
One of my FaceBook friends posted this music video of an Israeli pop song by drummer Gil Ladin, and it quickly captivated my ear. I wasted enough time listening to it that I figured it demanded it’s own blog post. The words of the chorus are based on an old Hebrew prayer: Establish peace, goodness, […]
A Hebrew Medley (video): Ayts Chaim/Hashivenu
Here’s a simple Hebrew medley I want to teach the King’s Court Choir at CPC. I recorded a quick video with my guitar—actually, with my daughter’s cheapo short-neck—so they can hear how the song goes.
A Prayer for the Depressed
Today, for Wishcasting Wednesday, Jamie Ridler asks, “What do you wish to make room for?” Like most people, I have so much stuff, both physically and figuratively, it’s hard to make room for anything. But what I really want to make room for today is the following blog post, which I’ve wanted to write. But […]