In the seventies the Cincinnati Reds were playing in massive Riverfront Stadium and they were in their glory. They were known as the Big Red Machine and they were a pennant-producing powerhouse. Summer nights I lay in my bed and listened to the heroics of Johnny Bench, Pete Rose, Dave Concepcion, George Foster, Ken Griffey, Joe Morgan, Cesar Cedanio, Don Gullett and company on my little radio. It was lined with leather with a little leather strap across the top and a silver metal face. It …

On a Friday night before the Ludington Lakestride Half-Marathon we were eating a pre-race meal with the family in a little Italian Restaurant. During our dinner we were talking about my friend Dan, who is a Marathoner. He ran the Boston Marathon this year. He is very, very quick.

As evening softly fell we stood on the back porch of Kyle and Elizabeth’s little cottage in the dunes trying to make ourselves leave. Kyle went inside and came out with a small box. It was gift for me.

It is interesting to me that of the sins which brought judgment on Sodom gluttony is listed; “Look, this was the iniquity of your sister Sodom: She and her daughter had pride, fullness of food and abundance of idleness” – Ezekiel 16:49.
Three things occur to me when I read this:

Last night Hope said; “Dad, even if you were fat I would still love you and I would still hug you and snuggle with you.
When Kyle was a little boy he rode a school bus for one school year. In the morning I always brewed a pot of coffee and I would walk him out to the road where we would wait for the School Bus. I always hated seeing the little guy in his neat school clothes and mother-attended hair climb up the steps into the big yellow …

I don’t want to sound like a curmudgeon, but I still think at is rude to be loud in public as if everyone within blocks is interested in the details of your personal life. I’m still a little surprised that a man would think I would be interested in being an unwilling party to a business transaction he is loudly discussing on his cell phone while I am trying to make sense of the paper in the coffee shop. People play music that can be heard over a …

Last weekend I was in a bookstore to pick up book for my wife. It was a fairly pricey book, something she would use for her photography. When the young lady told me the price I winced. I started to write the check and mentioned that I had a discount coupon at home but that I had forgotten to bring it.

We should each continually cultivate the inner life and nurture our spirits throughout all the days of our lives. It is easy to become busy and distracted and live without reflection or refreshment. This can sap the joy out of life and leave us vulnerable to the enemy of our souls.