The Genesis 2-3 story* of Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden is often interpreted as a fall from grace into original sin because they ate the forbidden fruit from the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil. But instead, this was the first act of free will. The fact that story does […]
Lactose “intolerance”
Some folks may accuse me of being “politically correct,” and yet, I insist that how we discuss issues reveals and shapes how we perceive these issues. Case in point today: Lactose “intolerance” I’m guessing that some European-descent person came up with this label. On a Google Image Search for “lactose intolerance,” I received some diagrams explaining the […]
Grandfather Alvin D. Todd
Thirty years ago, April 27, 1988, Alvin D. Todd died. Here’s a history of my grandfather written in 2010 by O’Nell (Todd) Brown: ALVIN TODD 8/6/1902 – 4/27/1988 Starting 1929 as a truck farmer in Gaddistown, Georgia, and marketing about 10 varieties of dahlia tubers, gifts from his mother-in-law, the money from which he paid […]
Science…
“Science is not about being able to calculate things precisely. It’s about being able to know how wrong you might be.” – Harvard-Smithsonian’s Jonathan McDowell
Spirit Flower… nurture yours…
I start a CPE Residency tomorrow. Upon reviewing my “Theology of Pastoral Care” paper from my 2015 CPE Internship, I wanted to share this passage that echos some of Thich Nhat Hanh’s view of “No Mud, No Lotus.” In one tradition from which I draw much, Buddhist psychology views the aspects of human character and […]
Total Eclipse
I now understand why many people have religious experiences during a total solar eclipse. My almost-five son and I trekked up to the Tennessee/North Carolina border, camped in the Tellico River area. Plan “A” was to watch in a wonderful spot known as Whigg Meadow. After seeing the enormous crowds and multitudes of cars parked […]
Never a win unless Love is within
We never truly win without love within. A victory achieved with might or hate is a short-lived, shallow victory. Love is a vital element of our future, and seems to be in short supply in our current divisiveness. Love is not just something that happens when you are attracted to someone. When we come from a […]
To be an American?
What does it mean to be an American? We used to think that to be an easy question, back when a more narrow group of people were defining what is means: Apple Pie, baseball and Chevrolet (all of which can trace their roots to pre-America). Our country was never just a single monolithic plain white […]
The Times They Are a-Changin’
Twenty nine years ago today, I became a father of a wonderful daughter. Thirty nine years ago today, I was finishing up my second day at U.S. Air Force Basic Training. Fast forward, my son is now four years old, the same age I was when Bob Dylan released The Times They Are a-Changin’. Times are still […]
Seek Serendipity
William H. Foege says: “Seek serendipity. We often think of serendipity as a random good fortune, but the origin involves three princes and Sarandīb, the Persian name for Ceylon, now Sri Lanka. A professor at Emory, Marion Creekmore was once ambassador to Sri Lanka or Sarandīb and the original story tells about a lost camel and how these three men, finding small […]