After a full day on Saturday, I went swimming Sunday morning at 6 am for an hour and drove home. Already we were planning to stay home from church because Karen had been sick, so when I arrived, I sat down. It was like I had been caught in a wave, suddenly I was underwater,…
A Swim Filled with Thanks
At 24-hour fitness I had a one-hour personal trainer session with Bryan the trainer manager at my club. It is a way for him to get new clients. He spent a half hour with me, taught me better stances, use of breath, and walked me around the club. At the sales portion of his presentation,…
Share Your Heart
I walked in to my counselor’s office and said, “Okay. Today I want to talk about two things. Money and Exercise. I want to start with money.” My counselor, Kate, and I have worked together for decades, literally. Over the years, we have processed the stress of ministry, the challenges of life — all those…
Life Comes in Waves
Listening to my CEO doing a training I was suddenly struck with this fact — he is leading from his strengths. Of course, hopefully this is true for all of us in life, but I imagine many of us are not leading from our strengths but wishing we had different strengths. The only reason I…
Escape From A Dark Cavern
I walk with people through all kinds of tough places. Some need me to assist them through midlife crises. Many are survivors from sexual and other kinds of abuse which has left them in incredible pain and without grounding as adults. I assist them to receive the Hand needed to lift them out of the…
The Daily Camino
Back in 2015, I was planning to walk the Camino de la Santiago the next year, the 500-mile trek across Northern Spain. Since I hoped to begin to journal through the blog on that walk, I began this and titled it “Camino Walk 2016.” When I titled it, I thought it would just be a…
Clives: A Wild Chef With Many Knives
Last year I spent months studying a style of therapy called Internal Family Systems (IFS) as a Continuing Education journey. I do some counseling work with clients, desire to experience more wholeness myself, and find it applies to my work in mediation. I read the foundational book on IFS, called Self Therapy by Jay Earley…
Thank You For Changing My Life
I just left a Marco Polo for Bradley. Some 30 years my junior, Bradley is one of the men God has placed in my life for me to pour into. He and I have begun to enjoy leaving frequent MarcoPolos for one another day by day as we encounter life, have needs for prayer and…
Men Who Put Skin on Jesus: Steve, Bob, Reid and Kevin
Dave S. from my last post, connected me to a group of guys called “Brothers in Christ” or BIC. This group of Portland businessmen of all ages was founded and led by a local lawyer named Don. The group met monthly for breakfast at a downtown club, hosted a Christmas lunch, and a yearly retreat….
Men who put Skin on Jesus: Ed D. and Dave S.
“I need to nail your feet to the ground,” Ed quipped on the way out of church one Sunday soon after I had arrived at Westside. It became his standing joke. He said it with a twinkle in his eye and a laugh. Ed, a barrel-chested, big guy, almost a decade older than me, has…
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