“And have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the air and over every living thing that moves upon the earth.” (Genesis 1:28b) The news informs us about the impact of disasters on the people in the path of hurricanes, floods, earthquakes and fires. First responders arrive immediately to rescue people and their pets. Communities come together to start dealing with the resulting destruction. But humans aren’t the only creatures […]
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Neighbors Helping Neighbors
This week I got a message from Dean Gladden, Managing Director of the Alley Theatre. In 2015 this downtown Houston theatre moved over to the nearby campus of University of Houston while the Alley got a $46.5 Million upgrade. This much beloved theatre was one of many Houston downtown buildings that flooded in 2001. That summer tropical storm Allison hovered over Houston for several days, dumping water into our city’s underground tunnel system that connects […]
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June: the Month Honeymoons
“Keep your eyes wide open before marriage, half shut afterwards.” — (Benjamin Franklin in Poor Richard’s Almanac, June 1738 There are a variety of ancient reasons why we have so many June weddings and very few of them have to do with romance. The month of June is named for the Roman goddess of marriage and childbirth. Juno was thought to watch over women and protect them, especially during childbirth. So a June wedding was a way […]
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Thoughts for Mother’s Day
Skip the sugary sweet mother’s day cards. Ditch the flowers and candy. Phone calls are good. Visits are better. What mothers really need are children who accept the reality no woman is born knowing how to mother. Some, surrounded by experienced women and an engaged father, get up to speed quickly, assuring her mothering efforts go well for the most part. Some figure it out eventually via an on-the-job learning curve that leaves only minor […]
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Scrooby, England – Late 1500’s
“We follow the rules laid out in the Bible for running our church.” William Brewster (via BrainyQuote) Apparently my great-great-great something grandparents were expelled from St. Wilfrid in Scrooby because they defied the laws of the land at the time by not worshiping in this Anglican parish. They worshiped instead with the trouble-makers of their day – the Separatists. Most people pick up the Pilgrim story with the arrival of the Mayflower in Cape Cod […]
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