Welcome, May!

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The past few weeks have been stressful. Training new employees, dealing with difficult customers, not sleeping well, not exercising (I’ve gained 20 pounds in the last two years), getting through family drama (two life-threatening events in the same day, 2000 miles apart: my dad’s heart attack in NM and a 9 year grandchild starting the rest of his life with Type 1 Diabetes) . . .  My CrossFit lifestyle withered into oblivion when I lost my job at the University in 2020, as Covid got going. Deep depression brought me to a standstill as I took a few months to try to reset. Since then, my physical status has been on steady decline. Now my daily schedule looks something like this: Work 3-11 pm (on a good day), Go to bed at 4 am, get up between 10:30 am and noon, get booted up and go back to work. If I get one day off a week I’m fortunate. At least I don’t have to work all night for now. That was the worst.  So I haven’t had time or energy to do much, even read, much less write. And since my

What Has It Got In Its Pocketses?

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You will perhaps recognize that question as it was asked of Bilbo by Gollum in Tolkien's "The Hobbit."

We were out doing ministry on the street one night when this older man with a very long and scraggly beard came up to me and asked very directly, "You're a Christian, aren't you?"

"Yes, I am," I replied, "but I can't help but wonder how you would guess."

He pointed to my shirt pocket containing gospel tracts and said, "Your pockets are bulging."  No doubt I was "packed for bear" that night as I had something to distribute from every pocket (I feel naked without something in my shirt pocket)!

What is in a man's pockets reveal much about him, don't they?  What is most important?  What does he hold dear, or what does he deem as absolutely essential?  And the things in his pockets change over time, as does the man.  Here is an interesting and humourous history of a man told by what he carried in his pocketses.

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