Friends, Margaret and Dan and I ate together for it was the last time we would be together before I leave. The thing I felt was that this meal was a little taste of heaven. First Margaret is a gourmet cook creating a feast from simple, natural ingredients. New Seasons’ beef with GF buns, and condiments…

Nothing could prepare my heart for what was coming. I sat in the award ceremony, Friday night at Annual Conference.  There were several awards before ours.  As I heard each I was celebrating them, I can “rejoice with those who rejoice,” but feeling like I didn’t deserve the one coming for us.  Strange contradiction of…

Photo: Alex Markovich. Camera: SONY DSC-R1. July 2014. via Old School Fence #3 — MARKOVICH PHOTO ART As he shook my hand, Mark, my friend and the pastor of St Andrew’s Lutheran down the street, said, “Brian, I cannot make the next lunch, so this is the last time I will see you before you leave on…

It was Wednesday night at 10 pm. I had done my blog post on Monday as has been my pattern since February 1st. I had done it all on my phone. The technology of how the phone responded to the WordPress app was challenging, but after hours of wrestling, I was able to press “post”…

One aspect of General conference this year was prayer beads. These were simple beads that were made by individuals from across United States. Each set was made while praying over it and asking God to take it to the person that would be most blessed. At Westside one of our members made 40 sets of…

It is amazing to me the impact of simple gestures. On my last day of volunteering at general conference I had a really rough morning. It was good to begin with.  I was able to be in the plenary session praying over the area. I saw God moving in really awesome ways. It was encouraging…

“Once you decide to walk the Camino, all of your life is part of that journey.” I made the decision January 2014. I had had lunch with a good brother of mine, Skip, and he had told how he and his wife had walked the Camino de Santiago the previous year (at 69 years old)…

Working at the welcome booth at the airport for General Conference, I was not expecting to encounter a blessing. All the women bishops had arrived days earlier for a conference in Hood River, so when two bishops, Bishop Peggy Johnson from the Philadelphia area, and Retired Bishop Violet Fisher arrived at our booth at 8…

On March 30th Cesie Delve Sheuermann, a great sister in Christ, an amazing writer (one blogger who is always worth reading), posted a blog post on re-imaging your story.  You can read it here. Cesie based her idea of re-imagining a story on the new, sensational broadway musical, “Hamilton,” a hiphop, musical retelling of the life…

The best decision I have ever made in my life, other than my response to God’s grace, was to ask Karen Koch to marry me, while kneeling on the brown, indoor/outdoor carpet of my apartment in the University Religious Center at the University of Santa Barbara. I’d made us crab-stuffed sole with what would have…