Old deceptions Whisper and roar across generations and milliseconds; Invisibly thread through heritage and culture; Shrewdly justify judgments and convictions; Subtly inform addictions and missions. Rabbi of lies spins intricate narrative so visceral; How can reality bear out anything else? Words of life Subversively battle power with enduring love and self-sacrifice; Delicately woo from compulsive ruts with created beauty and reflected glory; Gently conquer shame and contempt with grace…

This Friday, October 11, I'll find out whether or not I passed the Arizona Bar Exam. I'll get to scan the alphabetized list of every name of every person who got the required score and if I see my name, I can become an attorney. It's a moment that is the culmination of years of work and pain. The stress of studying for the bar was intense and real.…

So, I was working behind the soundboard, not really paying attention apparently ... This songs starts out with a beautiful guitar beat that I got lost in - I still get lost in it - as I just enjoy it so much. As I was enjoying this guitar beat in the original recording, after the song started and was well underway, I noticed Eric walk over and slide microphone…

Ok some roughly formulated thoughts not too ‘churched up’ as reuben would say: I’ve been thinking a lot lately what it means for the Village to be accessible and inclusive even as we grow. For years, many Village parties or events included a church wide invite. Baby showers were often co-Ed and an opportunity to have everyone come together. Not everything was all inclusive, but many things were. Lately,…

Almost a year ago, I crafted a video to go along with the Books of the Bible song that Susan Cepin recorded. As new Villagers, Eric asked me to create a video for the kid vespers. This is the first video that I made for the Village. I started to put this video together at my first art night at the Village and then I continued to finish it…

What once was verdant green turns fiery orange, crimson red, then slowly browns to death, unties from living bonds, lets go sustaining branches drifts softly to the ground, lies quiet in the darkened mud among those gone before.  All is lost in crumpled mire.  Blades and veins and midribs disappear amid the roots, degrade, decline, decay.  Soon they are no more, just dirt returning to the dirt.   No…

He wasn’t my favorite teacher. He was intimidating and a tough grader. For a teenager with the kind of learning disabilities that make it difficult to get assignments done, he was more an arch nemesis than a friend. I was also rather lazy and preferred basketball to conjugating verbs.  I’d heard crazy stories about him from my older sister. She told of how he prowled the aisles between the…

Sometimes it’s easy to be invisible. To do work behind the scenes and leave no trace for others to discover your mistakes or imperfections. I was part of a leadership team at a very large church for several years. I successfully hid flaws, fears, sin, and secrets behind a façade of servitude and performance. I think that the most crowded places are the easiest to operate in invisibility… and…

I love the village. I love how we come together as a community who supports and loves and cares for one another. I love how we ask each other about our lives; the good the bad, the hard....it’s so refreshing still after 14 years to be apart of this kind of authenticity. It’s so rich, so scary and I’m so grateful. As our family enters into a season of…

Micah 5:2 . . . But you, Bethlehem of Ephrathah, little among the clans of Judah-from you shall come forth the one who is to rule in Israel. When Jesus was born, Augustus had been in power for 25 years. He was, in that moment in time, King of kings - he ruled from Gibraltar to Jerusalem and from Britain to the Black Sea. He brought peace to the…

I am going to try to not spoil anything here... Last week I was in Michigan on a family trip. It was a great time. My kids got time with their grandpa who was kind and affectionate and generous, they got time in the cool Michigan air, the cold lake water, the warm sand. But you know that feeling of "being on vacation" and then "needing a vacation from…

It's not my norm to have conversations with call center folk (unlike some of us Villagers -- Rod, Emily L...). Today however when I called to get through the red tape to get my new arthritis medication, I asked how her day was going. She said it was busy but good and I mused that it would be as long as people weren't mean to her. She responded with…

Earlier this year I had the big idea that it was time to do another backpacking trip in the White Mountain wilderness of Northern Arizona. I’ve been taking kids of various age ranges to these mountains for a couple of decades, mostly in conjunction with the developmental stages of my own kids. This time, though, had to be special. I had promised the community’s younger kids a wilderness excursion…

Earlier this Summer, my family took a trip to San Diego. As I sat there on the beach, I was revisited by childhood memories of swimming in the ocean. The sun would barely be coming up, when my mom would cover my brothers and I in layers of sunscreen before we’d go out into the water. One particular trip, I was dragged in an undertow, seconds felt like minutes as…

Many years ago I remember telling my friend, Wayne, that he ought not attribute motives to another person. I assured him he couldn’t possibly know what was rattling around in someone else’s head. He acknowledged my rebuke and was repentant. A short while later he confronted me about the comments I had made about someone else’s motives saying, “Aren’t you the one who told me to never attribute motives?”…