Friday Tidings

For a long time only our immediate family knew we were living in the back of our 1949 Ford truck. Homeless. For two love-struck newlyweds, we just thought of it as an extended honeymoon camping trip.  That’s how our married life began. Shortly after we were married, my father-in-law sat us down and drew a triangle on a piece of paper.  On one bottom corner he wrote Tom. On the other he wrote Karen. At the top he wrote God. He drew an arrow from each name heading towards God and said the closer we got to God, the closer we would get to each other.  He was right.  I think of the 40 years the Israelites spent in the wilderness on their way to the Promised Land. Like them, we learned our own hard lessons.  But we also have been incredibly blessed in our own promised land—God is still at the top of our triangle—and Tom and I are closer than ever.  We started poor but we were rich in the ways that mattered.  ...

It was late afternoon in Jerusalem. Low clouds seemed to be burdened by a pending rain. But in the garden, the overhanging branches of the trees were like umbrellas stretched over the pathways. A small crowd was inching along the path to the tomb.  Not just any tomb, but the one where many scholars agree that Jesus was placed after his crucifixion.  Even with all the people, it was so quiet. Our lowered voices made a gentle sound in the area around the tomb. I closed my eyes and just listened.  I’ve not been a world traveler—but here in Jerusalem, just outside the tomb, I heard French, German, and Spanish visitors. But there were other languages I’d never heard before.  As we waited for our turn to go into the tomb, I looked at my fellow sojourners. Different cultures and languages, but one faith. The Bible talks about every nation and every tongue—and I felt it here. Even though we couldn’t understand one another, we were...

Call me suspicious, but I just want to ask this up front: would you implant a data chip in your right hand in order to have a more full-proof method of protecting your ID, credit cards, and bank accounts? The cover article in April’s AARP Bulletin, discussed the challenges facing consumers in this online world of financial transactions. The United States had over 16 million victims of identity theft in 2017. Scammers reaped nearly $17 billion. Our passwords just aren’t stealthy enough anymore. Biometric authentication with eye scans and thumb prints can help beat some of the scammers. Facial and voice recognition are being used more often to confirm identity. It sounds good until the companies storing your photo ID get hacked. The safest solution is already in place in Sweden. A tiny chip the size of a piece of rice is inserted between the thumb and forefinger. No more lost car keys, no need for your work ID badge, no lost or stolen credit cards. Nearly un-hack...

I’ve been visiting a personal trainer for about a year. She’s much younger than I am, but she doesn’t let me use age as an excuse to slow down.  Thankfully, she did give me time to adapt to the workout routines. I already know I’ll never master the kind of flexibility she has. Not to mention her boundless energy. But here we are, face to face, for our weekly session. She’s ramping it up. I guess she figures I’m in better shape after all the work she’s done to get me ready.  It’s a combination of floor exercises followed by running. She directs. I follow. There’s not much of a break between the exercise sets.  After what seems like less than two minutes off, she gives me that smile that says, enough rest, it’s time to get moving—and she starts running.  I follow close behind. The interesting thing, is that all of this training has made it easier to keep up, and when she looks back to see where I am, I smile because I’m right behind her. ...