Dearest Rachel – I don’t know what’s been going on the last few days, honey, but every so often – at least, when I bother to think about it – there’s been this nagging sense of unease in the pit of my stomach going on. Now, it’s entirely possible that it’s simply due to anotherContinue reading “Queasy”
Monthly Archives: June 2025
from Rachel: Oppression of the Saints
Let’s start with a recap of yesterday’s lesson. Please list the three additional names/titles for the ‘little horn.’ “Man of Lawlessness“Beast“Antichrist” Perhaps nothing is more dangerous than an evil genius. Why do you suppose evil and intelligence form such a deadly combination? “Dumb or even average evil will only get so far before it tripsContinue reading “from Rachel: Oppression of the Saints”
Returning to Collect
Dearest Rachel – I’m not sure whether I heard the car approach – I certainly didn’t recognize it, if I paid any attention to it at all – as it pulled up to your parents’ house and you got out to look through the place one more time. I watched through the immense picture windowContinue reading “Returning to Collect”
To Tell About Our Days
Dearest Rachel – As humans, we have a surprising amount of difficulty explaining to others how we spend our time, and what exactly we do with it. Or maybe it’s just me, which basically illustrates my point. You see, even though we know, intellectually, that it’s not so, we find it hard to imagine thatContinue reading “To Tell About Our Days”
Tell-Tale Feet and the Chocolate Plateau
Dearest Rachel – After telling you about how I ‘cheated’ to get under the two-fifteen line yesterday before I was to go and meet up with Lars yesterday, I didn’t have as much to talk with him about when we started to make our way around the mall. Oh, and by the way, I thinkContinue reading “Tell-Tale Feet and the Chocolate Plateau”
Hate to Disappoint
Dearest Rachel – As happens every week these days, I’m meeting up with Lars to walk for a couple of hours (granted, due to the combination of the recent heat wave and the current threat of rain, we’ll be doing so for the second straight week at the mall over in Rosemont, rather than theContinue reading “Hate to Disappoint”
Returning from the Woods
Dearest Rachel – As she attempts to recover from her unplanned tryst with Prince Charming late in the second half of Into the Woods, the Baker’s Wife sings “back to life, back to home, back to child, back to husband… you can’t live in the woods.” Of course she doesn’t get back to all thoseContinue reading “Returning from the Woods”
Either a Liar or a Fool
Dearest Rachel – You probably remember this meme, as the template has been going around for ages: “Never Ask: a woman, her age; a man, his salary; and” the third option – the real punchline – being something that the questioner really wouldn’t want the answer to. It would either one of those ridiculous imponderablesContinue reading “Either a Liar or a Fool”
Sixteen Hundred Days
Dearest Rachel – It’s been fifty-three months as of today, honey. In that time, I’ve written you well over two thousand letters – actually, over twenty-two hundred or so, in fact – and once this is sent, I’ll have dropped you a line every day for sixteen hundred days straight. Which by the way, meansContinue reading “Sixteen Hundred Days”
Stones for the Squirrel
Dearest Rachel – Some days, there’s just not that much out of the ordinary that’s happening to me personally to tell you about, so I have to rely on the news, or a dream, or just something that comes to mind, to tell you about on a given day. It’s less, in terms of theContinue reading “Stones for the Squirrel”
from Rachel: Other Names for the Little Horn
How does verse 24 explain the uprooting of the other three horns in verse 8? “The little horn is a new king who will arise and subdue three of the ten existing kings.” Sketch One: 2 Thessalonians 2:1-10. Title: Man of “Lawlessness”Additional information: (Always document Scripture locations) “Before the Day of the Lord (Christ’s return)Continue reading “from Rachel: Other Names for the Little Horn”
One Billion Seconds
Dearest Rachel – I mentioned the other day in passing about large numbers like millions and billions, and told you I’d go into more details soon enough. Well, soon enough has arrived – well, in fairness, it’s already come and gone, and I didn’t notice it at the time, but that’s neither here nor there.Continue reading “One Billion Seconds”
DIY Catfishing
Dearest Rachel – Another day, another dip into my news feed. This one hits a little closer to home, as it touches on the topic of artificial intelligence, and the relationships we develop with it – quite literally, in fact. This is something I’ve come across that really makes me wonder where we’re going asContinue reading “DIY Catfishing”
Freedom in a Land of Plenty
Dearest Rachel – This morning, I was just heading out from the gym (and having to turn back after passing the office complex behind the strip mall it’s in because I left my cap there; it was bright and sunny when I left, which caused me to forget that I’d worn it in the drizzleContinue reading “Freedom in a Land of Plenty”
Don’t Always Follow Leaders
Dearest Rachel – I mentioned yesterday about reading through my news feed as part of my body’s scheme to distract my mind from getting everybody up and out of the house to work on getting back into shape, particularly after a couple of days in a row in which I’d had a heavy meal atContinue reading “Don’t Always Follow Leaders”
Refreshing Inertia
Dearest Rachel – The world outside my door may be speeding by at a ridiculous pace – when I woke up for the first time a couple of hours ago, there were an insane amount of unread articles in my news feed to go through – but that doesn’t mean I have to move atContinue reading “Refreshing Inertia”
A Recursive Change of Subject
Dearest Rachel – I don’t know if it’s annoying or depressing to have – or need – a filter on what I say, but such is life sometimes. There was a conversation yesterday that got me thinking about how the three of us would spend rather a lot of time in companionable silence, apart fromContinue reading “A Recursive Change of Subject”
from Rachel: The Little Horn
Please read Daniel 7:7-28 carefully and list every fact about the little horn under its proper heading. These ‘successes’ or ‘failures’ may be implied or obvious. Be sure to note the verse locations with each fact. The little horn’s successes:“crushed and devoured its victims (7)“trampled what was left under its feet (7)“was waging war againstContinue reading “from Rachel: The Little Horn”
Out of Sync
Dearest Rachel – It’s probably not advisable for me to be writing to you like this at three or four in the morning; it certainly would have been pointless to talk to you like this back in the days when you were alive, as you would have just gotten to bed and fallen asleep, mostContinue reading “Out of Sync”
The Price of Recovery
Dearest Rachel – Well, as much as I may have complained yesterday that it wasn’t instantaneous, my foot certainly feels much better this morning. I can still feel a slight nagging if I try to wiggle my big toe, and there’s a noticeable twinge if I put too much weight on the meaty part ofContinue reading “The Price of Recovery”
Pondering Addiction
Dearest Rachel – It’s said that humans are, as a rule, narcissistic and self-centered, with no innate sense of empathy; whether that’s due to the Fall or something else, anyone is free to make theories about the underlying cause. It dismays me to go through these letters and see all the use of the first-personContinue reading “Pondering Addiction”
You Can’t Really See It
Dearest Rachel – Last night – or rather, this morning, at about two a.m. – I was awoken to a searing pain in my left foot… The pain is a nagging one that extends along my first three toes, and then draws a hypotenuse to my insole, about halfway to my ankle. It’s of suchContinue reading “You Can’t Really See It”
Two Against the Hawk
Dearest Rachel – I would promise you that this title and story has nothing to do with the individual known virally as the “Hawk Tuah” girl, except that she came to prominence well after your departure, so you wouldn’t have the first clue about who I’m even referring to. For whatever it’s worth (not thatContinue reading “Two Against the Hawk”
Golden Eggs in Gilded Ages
Dearest Rachel – I don’t know if it’s just me, or if it’s the effect of last night’s dream, but it occurs to me that we tend to think that the great men of history – at least those from the same historical time period – knew each other. They may not necessarily have beenContinue reading “Golden Eggs in Gilded Ages”
Have We Lost Our Minds (Again)? Did We Ever Have Them?
Dearest Rachel – Despite the relative tranquility of our own personal lives, we were born into a world of utter chaos. The year of my birth was a particular annus horribilis; I can – and often do – imply the date by connecting it to the assassination of Martin Luther King (I have an alibi,Continue reading “Have We Lost Our Minds (Again)? Did We Ever Have Them?”
Parking Lot Pandemonium
Dearest Rachel – There’s a passage in Piers Anthony’s On A Pale Horse in which Zane, the mortal who has inadvertently assumed the role of Death by killing his predecessor in the position, is summoned to meet with the woman who serves as the incarnation of Nature. To get to her, he is required toContinue reading “Parking Lot Pandemonium”
from Rachel: Four Beasts out of the Sea
Reread Daniel 7:9-14. If you participated in the session, what was the most meaningful to you about the court scene? If you didn’t view the session which part of this segment intrigues you most? “I agree with Daniel’s incredulity that the little horn doesn’t stop boasting even as the Ancient of Days and His entireContinue reading “from Rachel: Four Beasts out of the Sea”
Constructive Notice
Dearest Rachel – This morning, when I woke up and reached for my phone (to see what time it is, honest! I’m not gonna look through my news feed until I know I’m not going to go back to sleep, and need to use the washroom. Yes, that happened this time around, and yes, itContinue reading “Constructive Notice”
Cicadian Rhythms
Dearest Rachel – Often, when I lack a topic to talk with you about first thing in the morning, I try to come up with something to say during my workout (hey, it beats actually working out, truth to tell – and even if I’m actually into the whole ‘pushing weights around’ thing of aContinue reading “Cicadian Rhythms”
Light as (a Ton of) Feathers, Stiff as a Board
Dearest Rachel – Not that you’re dealing with anything like this these days, I’m sure, but did you ever experience something that essentially proved to be the opposite of what you were promised? I think that rather sums up my last night, right down to the dreams therein. I might as well reverse gears forContinue reading “Light as (a Ton of) Feathers, Stiff as a Board”
Of Plumb-bobs and Progress Bars
Dearest Rachel – You probably remember earlier iterations of The Sims much better than I do (even now); while I bought myself a copy of Sims4 a while back, I never really got into it. Heck, I barely bother to play Civilization these days, and I got into that game. I guess there are soContinue reading “Of Plumb-bobs and Progress Bars”
The Cards We Are Dealt
Dearest Rachel – Sometimes, I have several story lines going on at the same time, and start one or two letters to you, hoping I can flesh them out before the situation itself goes stale. Other times, an idea occurs to me that requires me to at least set up the framework before I forgetContinue reading “The Cards We Are Dealt”
Reverse Porch Piracy
Dearest Rachel – There are neighborhoods that have problems with what I understand are referred to as ‘porch pirates,’ and while I can’t imagine that being an issue in a relatively affluent and homogeneous socioeconomic area as ours, I get the driving force behind it. Covetousness is a thing that exists (otherwise, why would thereContinue reading “Reverse Porch Piracy”
The Quiet Month of Summer
Dearest Rachel – So; it’s June. We’re almost halfway through the year, and it rather feels like it, seeing how much has already happened thus far (some of which didn’t go according to plan, but that’s life on this abandoned planet, isn’t it?). While I haven’t covered the kind of ground that I did lastContinue reading “The Quiet Month of Summer”
from Rachel: Keep Singing
Reflect on all we’ve studied. What kind of things would Daniel and his friends have missed out on had they chosen instead to blend in? “Rather than miraculously avoiding being killed in chapters three and six respectively, they would have been killed in chapter 2. (If they had somehow dodged that, Daniel wouldn’t have beenContinue reading “from Rachel: Keep Singing”
Letters to Rachel 