Up the Sunbeam

-- His weathered and rugged face was hard to read. His blue eyes were clear and calm below his hat, but they gave nothing away. He was a cowboy. He was the real deal. "Have you ridden before?" he asked as he looked down the line of saddled stable horses wearily waiting to begin the next trail ride, most of them with heads low, looking bored and listless. They had the dull, sorrowful look horses get when they've been ridden too much by people who don't know what they're doing. "Yes," I said, "I grew up on horses." "Have you ever fallen off?" I laughed out loud and said without excuse or explanation, "More times than I can count!" Everything that had shielded his thoughts before fell instantly away and his smile went all the way to the sun-browned crinkles at the corners of his eyes, and he went inside the barn and led out a horse with a lively step, bright eyes and eager ears pricked toward me. I had passed th

-- I came very close to titling this post "Never Skip a Bible Verse," but I think I'll ask you to think of that as the subtitle instead. There are verses in the Bible that we are all tempted to skip entirely, or at the very least we skim over them, considering them to be the verses to move past to get to the good stuff. I think of certain long passages of Leviticus outlining laws that seem persnickety and far removed from our 21st Century life,  or long ago census records that list the names of the Twelve Tribes of Israel and the numbers of people in each one,  or genealogies filled with generations of names we can't pronounce (they used to be called "the begats"--anyone old enough to remember that?) What about this one? " James, a servant of God and of the Lord Jesus Christ,    To the twelve tribes scattered among the nations:    Greetings." James 1:1 NIV At first glance, this verse may seem merely a polite introduction, a salutation

-- If I write the words, "On a hill far away . . . " what comes to mind? What about, "When peace like a river . . . ?" Try this one, "Mine eyes have seen the glory . . . " Chances are, at least for many of you, these line fragments will start a cascade of words and mental images that follow because the hymns they belong to are engraved deep in your hearts from much repetition. For those of us who grew up in churches where hymns were sung, these phrases are like keys that unlock whole worlds within them; we can scarcely hear the opening phrase without the rest of the hymn springing to life in our memories. Jesus may have been doing the very same thing in this familiar passage: “ From noon until three in the afternoon darkness came over all the land.  About three in the afternoon Jesus cried out in a loud voice,  'Eli, Eli,  lema sabachthani?'  (which means  'My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?' ). ”   Matthew 27:45-46

-- First, I beg your patience with my inconsistent posting schedule--I am juggling a crazy life (good, but crazy) right now and it just may be this way for awhile, but I love you all and so appreciate your presence here!! Now, more than ever, your comments keep me inspired, so please share your thoughts and feedback with me as you wish!! We all felt the hum of excited anticipation in the air as 1200 high school students filed in and found seats in the gymnasium bleachers. For once, everyone was on their best behavior (under threat of dire consequences if we didn't behave like angels), and all markedly more attentive than usual for an assembly. It seemed we had all taken a little more care with choosing our clothes that morning and hoped it was something close to a good hair day. We looked around and took in the gleam and shine of the freshly painted, colorful new design on the walls and the near-mirror finish of the highly polished gym floor. The whole school had been