Nine-year-old Shienna sat up a little straighter and vocalized her dissent: “That’s not true, three times nine is twenty-six. I memorized it, so I should know.” “Well, you might be right about that,” countered Kelli, “but you were wrong about gravity.  There is no gravity in Arizona – I saw it on TV.” “I know,” Shienna said agreeably, “I once threw a rock in the

It was a quiet spring morning in New England. Suddenly the music of the songbirds was shattered by a ruckus high in the trees. A red-tailed hawk, not far from his own nest was squealing and ducking as a half dozen Blue Jays took turns screaming and dive-bombing the larger, more powerful bird.  Mobbing, is a behavior in which a gang of smaller birds

Living Free At first, he was disappointed, then angry. His trainer told him he would lose ten pounds and feel better in days. The gym had parted him from his hard-earned cash with the promise that their exercise/diet program, if properly followed, would set him free from sluggishness and obesity. He was now enduring his third day of health-food and exercise. So far he

Who originally penned the words is not clear, but this oft-quoted truth is clear and thought-provoking: “Dads are like a steady but less sentimentalized institution — the sun in our familial sky that warms and gives life but isn’t much thought about unless he goes missing.” As a son, a father, and a long-time pastor, that statement resonates with me. Fatherhood is often unappreciated.