Star-fish

     In Arizona today, teachers have put on Red t-shirts and walked out of schools to protest low wages. Due to being a previous teacher and administrator in Arizona, I have first hand experience with low wages and a number of less than ideal working conditions in Arizona schools. Ironically, I believe since most people either attended public school or know someone who is a former educator or administrator in public schools, there are many opinions about what is or is not wrong with the current education system.      We all bring our own experiences to the table whatever the discussion may be. But where we go awry is when we superimpose our past history onto someone else's present reality. I am guilty of this in so many ways, I truly have no business even broaching the subject and yet...Sometimes those who are the worst offenders make the best defenders. Take for instance those criminals that help law enforcement by exposing the thought processes and techn...

    Our women's group at church just finished Angela Thomas-Pharr's study, Stronger . The theme was that God is stronger than everything we will encounter. The final week's session was titled, "God is Stronger Than Every Broken Thing in Me." Angela made the point on page 144 that, "God can heal a broken heart, but He has to have all the pieces." She quoted Proverbs 23:26, "My son, give me your heart, and let your eyes observe my ways."      Thomas-Pharr first goes over what love shouldn't look like in broken relationships (i.e. allowing yourself to be manipulated, abused, or pressured) and then noted, "Seeing a broken friendship through the eyes of love means extending the same grace Christ has extended to you, the same mercy, the same forgiveness, and the same compassion. It means laying down our desire to condemn and to demand satisfaction, just as He laid down those things," (page 151).      She stated that, "Our world r...

     In the The AARP Magazine for Feb/March 2018 an article called, “Burned to the Waterline,” by Donovan Webster really struck a sad, yet encouraging note for me. After being sent to prison for DUI for 21 months, Webster, a writer for The New Yorker and The National Geographic as well as other magazines and the author of the book,  War Stories: True-Life Fiction from American’s Troops and Families in the Global War on Terror had a new perspective on life. He said,   “Yes, there are moments when I walk out under the night sky and ask myself what the point of this journey has been. But feeling sorry for oneself is a luxury people my age can no longer afford. Virtually everything in my life burned to the waterline. But I have realized that there’s some great power in being around long enough to comprehend that no matter the damage we’ve done, a new door will open. No matter what age you are, staging a comeback is only a matter of taking the rest o...