Recently I read a compilation of actual prayers offered up to God by children. They were funny and refreshingly candid. Like Angela, age 8, who said, “Dear God, could you give my brother some brains? So far he doesn’t have any.” Or “Dear God, thanks for the nice day today. You even fooled the TV weather man.”
One […]

Years ago my good friend Fred told me about a delightful conversation he had with his then 3-year old grandson, Nathan. Nathan was just about to have another birthday.
“Grandpa, I don’t want to be 4. I want to stay 3.”
“Why is that?”
“Because after you turn 4, then you turn 5.”
“What’s wrong with that?”
“Because when you turn […]

Take an evening stroll around the neighborhood this month and you’ll see a variety of nativity sets. Some are wood. Some are cardboard cut outs. Some are hollow painted plastic with light bulbs inside. Wherever you live, nativity sets all have the same figures. Mary and Joseph. Shepherds and wise men. Some animals. And of […]

It was fall of 1993. We had lived here only a couple months and were still finding our way around the valley. One late afternoon we discovered a Chinese restaurant somewhere in Mesa and had dinner there.
When we were finished I went up to the counter to pay the check. After the cashier handed me […]

Here in the Phoenix valley, conveniences abound. Drive three minutes in any direction from my house and you’ll find a Target, Wal-Mart, Costco, Home Depot, Discount Tire, and numerous large grocery stores. Not to mention the endless strip malls full of specialty shops. Anyone need to refurbish a Ford Mustang? Buy a dune buggy? Just […]

“Can you hold a second, please? Someone is beeping in.”
We phrase it in the form of a question, but we aren’t asking. We’re telling. I silently wondered how he would respond if I said, “No, I can’t hold. “
“I’m back. Sorry. That was my wife again.” His wife had beeped in four times during a […]