Dearest Rachel – To a certain extent, I suspect you might be the slightest bit disappointed in me. With the new church tradition of holding separate women’s and men’s weekend retreats at the camp, I’m sure that you would enthusiastically embrace the former and strongly encourage me (and Daniel, I shouldn’t wonder) to go upContinue reading “If Things Had Been Different”
Monthly Archives: September 2023
Sudden Deadlines
Dearest Rachel – Obviously, this title is a misnomer; there’s rarely such a thing as an unexpected deadline. It’s just that we go so long ignoring them, that once they finally loom in the near distance, we find ourselves agog, wondering “Wait… where did that come from?” I know you understand where I’m coming from;Continue reading “Sudden Deadlines”
Sinking Leadership
Dearest Rachel – This is not a topic that would come up between us very often, but I know we would occasionally discuss the phenomenon when it would happen to us individually (and it usually did happen to us on an individual basis; as I describe it, you’ll understand why). We would be reading aContinue reading “Sinking Leadership”
Uncle Mamo
Dearest Rachel – I was planning to make this an epilogue to an earlier letter to you, but that one started to get out of hand, so I decided to create this as a separate one instead. Who knows? Maybe I lost the original thread when I walked away from it for a few hours.Continue reading “Uncle Mamo”
A Man With a Plan
Dearest Rachel – In his (posthumous) Oscar-winning turn as the Joker in The Dark Knight, Heath Ledger utters the line to Aaron Eckhart’s Harvey Dent, “Do I really look like a guy with a plan?” The implication behind the question is that Dent is supposed to conclude that of course not; the Joker is tooContinue reading “A Man With a Plan”
Indulgences
Dearest Rachel – This past weekend has been the first – and consequently, the only – one this month in which I wasn’t working in the booth at church. This meant that Daniel and I could go to church together – and therefore, since I was the one responsible for getting him there and backContinue reading “Indulgences”
from Rachel: Hearts Mended by Truth
Children are… “the apple of Christ’s eye” Children are uniquely… “accompanied by Christ” Abuses to children may as well have been… “personally applied to Christ” Christ is never… “the author of abuse” Paraphrase Lamentations 3:58-59 in your own words. “Oh, Lord, you are my Counselor and my Savior. You are also a witness to theContinue reading “from Rachel: Hearts Mended by Truth”
Skin for Skin
Dearest Rachel – You probably remember that I try to read a few Bible chapters each day – one from Proverbs (corresponding to the day of the month for easy reference, which allows me to skip yours as often as not), one Psalm (which is a little harder to keep track of), and three othersContinue reading “Skin for Skin”
Trying to Get in Touch
Dearest Rachel – If it really was you last night, and not just the product of my hyperactive imagination, I want to let you know how much I appreciate your persistence. At the same time, I probably also need to apologize profusely for constantly breaking the spell, whatever it might have been. It had toContinue reading “Trying to Get in Touch”
つづく (To Be Continued)
Dearest Rachel – Well, honey, I did say I was going to have to continue the story I began telling you about on Tuesday, as I wasn’t able to get you over to the jewelers’ that day. It’s a fairly short story, though – at least, for now. But first, I think I need toContinue reading “つづく (To Be Continued)”
Why Would She Think That? Why Would I Do That?
Dearest Rachel – Last night’s dream was more firmly grounded in reality than most tend to be – so in some respects, it might not be as truly interesting to hear about simply because of that – but it did operate along certain lines that wouldn’t make sense in real life. Besides, it brings upContinue reading “Why Would She Think That? Why Would I Do That?”
So Out of Character For You
Dearest Rachel – I was going to start this letter off by talking about how, thirty-one years ago today, we were preparing to pack up and head back from our honeymoon. The folks from the diamond-making place referred to this trip as your ‘homecoming,’ you see, and it seemed appropriate to juxtapose today with anContinue reading “So Out of Character For You”
Six Pounds of Scattered Thoughts
Dearest Rachel – Once again, I begin a morning – and a week – with no single, coherent topic to discuss with you today. So I hope that you’ll forgive me for just throwing out a couple of paragraphs here and there as I splash through my stream of consciousness; try not to get tooContinue reading “Six Pounds of Scattered Thoughts”
from Rachel: Hearts Broken in Childhood
List every piece of evidence you can find to support the statement: “Christ loves children” He called a little child to stand among them. He said we must become like them to enter heaven. He said those humble like children are the greatest in the kingdom of heaven. If we welcome a little child inContinue reading “from Rachel: Hearts Broken in Childhood”
Seeing The Resemblance
Dearest Rachel – So, last night, the girls were over for what felt like the first time in a long time. Yes, we’d gotten together just last week – hadn’t we? It somehow feels longer than that – but it’s been ages since we just assembled at the house to eat and watch stuff togetherContinue reading “Seeing The Resemblance”
Picking the Lyrics Apart
Dearest Rachel – I want you to know that I’m not trying to avoid your memory – heck, if I was, would I be writing to you every day like this? – but there’s only so much I can take of going through my offline music library, where I’m guaranteed to encounter one of ‘our’Continue reading “Picking the Lyrics Apart”
Random Bits
Dearest Rachel – You know, I have a couple of letters that I’m currently working on to send you, but they aren’t exactly talking about things that are happening to me at any given moment; they’re more just ongoing stuff. So I’m carefully assembling those still, hoping to release them to you when I haveContinue reading “Random Bits”
Scheduled Start-ups
Dearest Rachel – I woke up this morning, feeling a little dismayed. Not because it was too late to get up and out of the house right when the gym was opening. Sure, I could always stand to do that, especially since I’m two pounds heavier this morning than yesterday, despite having had little moreContinue reading “Scheduled Start-ups”
Ice Cream Anniversary
Dearest Rachel – Well… happy anniversary, honey. This is the third one I’ve had to live through without you, and while it doesn’t really get any easier, there’s this feeling like I’m slowly getting inured to the sensation. Of course, I can guarantee that I’m never going to forget the date, coming as it doesContinue reading “Ice Cream Anniversary”
Funnier in My Head
Dearest Rachel – In some ways, last night had to have involved one of the more stereotypical dreams that I’ve ever had; it involved getting up in front of a crowd and speaking. but once you get into the details, it gets a little bit less conventional. That’s because I had been asked to doContinue reading “Funnier in My Head”
from Rachel: Straight to the Heart
What was your first real heartbreak in life? “The only one I can recall was being rejected by all five sorority houses.” In the following passages, record the circumstances involved, and how God bound up the brokenhearted. Reference: Genesis 16:1-13Circumstances: “Hagar, a maidservant (slave?), was forced to carry the baby of her mistress’ husband. UnderContinue reading “from Rachel: Straight to the Heart”
Chasing the Robot
Dearest Rachel – So, last night we went out to that conveyor belt sushi place that’s not the Station – the one out by Woodfield – to belatedly celebrate Logan’s birthday. In a way, he’s become rather a part of the family, complete with me having to nag him about getting his finances in orderContinue reading “Chasing the Robot”
Ookie…
Dearest Rachel – Considering that it’s likely to be a busy day once it actually gets started – I’ve reconciliations to do for the church regarding their bank statements, I’ll be meeting Lars for our customary walk (although yes, it’s later in the week, and the day, than usual), and with any luck, we shouldContinue reading “Ookie…”
More Time At the Office
No one on his deathbed ever said, ‘I wish I had spent more time at the office.’ Arnold M. Zack, labor and management arbitrator Dearest Rachel – Well, this is certainly one quote that I never needed to learn through experience. Even going back before turning into the worker drone that society expected me toContinue reading “More Time At the Office”
Pound Foolish?
Dearest Rachel – I’m sure this is something that, under other circumstances, one might actually expect of a man my age. After all, isn’t it almost cliché for a man in his fifties to deal with a midlife crisis by quitting his job, finding himself a new woman, and getting himself a sporty new setContinue reading “Pound Foolish?”
Caught Unprepared
Dearest Rachel – So last night was the annual meeting of the volunteer leaders in preparation for this year’s Awana Sparks club. Lots of heartening news; including the fact that we have enough volunteers for each team to have four or five leaders, while at the same time, we have enough kids already registered suchContinue reading “Caught Unprepared”
Six-and-a-Half
The race is long, and in the end, it’s only with yourself. Mary Schmich, “Advice, like youth, is wasted on the young,” Chicago Tribune, June 1, 1997 Dearest Rachel – In this case, the epigraph is only half right. Sure, the race that is life is a bit of a marathon, but in the incrementContinue reading “Six-and-a-Half”
A Few More Drops Into the Deeps
Dearest Rachel – I’m sure you’d heard the phrases ‘dark web’ and ‘deep web’ from time to time before your departure; after all, you had majored in the computer sciences and we as a family tended to be more online than most people I know. Equally likely, you’d probably heard tell that those two concepts,Continue reading “A Few More Drops Into the Deeps”
Scamming God Himself
Dearest Rachel – Things have been rather quiet on the dating front these days; it’s been over a month since Grace and I went to church together, and while I’ve had a couple of conversations with others since then, nothing has really come of any of it. Obviously, this isn’t an ideal situation – I’mContinue reading “Scamming God Himself”
from Rachel: The Ancient of Days
Satan can do nothing about our salvation once we have received Christ, so he hopes to handicap us so we won’t be a threat. Based on God’s priority in our lives, what might be Satan’s priority in terms of the lives of people who are already Christians? “Pretty high because Christians are the most likelyContinue reading “from Rachel: The Ancient of Days”
Don’t Try to Solve Your Problems
Dearest Rachel – I won’t call what I woke up with this morning a dream, as such. There’s no particular story to tell you about, exactly. But in going over the situation as I see it from a distance, there’s a moral to be grasped from it all; not a particularly uplifting or encouraging one,Continue reading “Don’t Try to Solve Your Problems”
Picking Up After Him
Dearest Rachel – Another morning of waking up to a dark room. Even as I realize that it’s now September, I’m still pretty sure that it shouldn’t be this dark when I’m waking up. Sure enough, it’s not even five o’clock yet. My subconscious superego chirps that it’s an opportune moment to prepare to goContinue reading “Picking Up After Him”
Letters to Rachel 