Russellings of the Spirit

God

  • This Side of the Desk

    I just finished reading the book When Breath Becomes Air. I am still drying my eyes. It is the story of a brilliant, gifted neurosurgeon named Paul Kalanithi. Kalanithi seems to be on his way to an illustrious career as… Continue reading

  • Order out of Chaos

    Look at this. Isn’t it amazing? My organizational genius of a wife took our laundry basket full of a mishmash of all sizes and styles of extension cords and – armed with only her labelmaker and a few plastic containers… Continue reading

  • To Callous, or Not to Callous

    Blogosphere, meet my guitars. The Martin Dreadnought acoustic is the one on the left and the Fender American Stratocaster (with double humbucker pickup) is the one on the right. Guitars, meet the blogosphere. I love these instruments and miss them… Continue reading

  • I Can’t Know

    By my not-totally-rigorous estimate, I have officiated at close to 100 funerals during my career as a pastor. This total was boosted significantly by one memorable week in 2014 when there were three. Every one of these formal church services… Continue reading

  • Doing Love

    Please pause for a moment and pity poor Joan. Joan – for those of you who don’t know – is my spouse. And since we just celebrated our 20th anniversary on Cinco de Mayo, she has occupied that status for… Continue reading

  • A Cracked Shell

    Something seems to be leaking… and I can’t help but believe that’s a good thing. In fact, I hope you are starting to leak a little, too. When you and I first come into the world as babies, we have… Continue reading

  • Things I don’t have to do…

    “But let justice roll down like waters, and righteousness like an ever-flowing stream.” Amos 5:24, NRSV In my life, there are a lot of things I HAVE to do. I have to help out around the house. I have to… Continue reading

  • The Magic Bullet

    Earlier today, I was busy in the kitchen, whipping up a new batch of my famous homemade granola. Before you get too excited about my domestic skills, it is literally one of four things I know how to make… and… Continue reading

  • Frozen People

    I knew it was coming, just as surely as the next episode of The Lone Ranger on Saturday morning TV. When I was a wee lad and we made the 415-mile trek to see my dad’s parents in St. Louis,… Continue reading

  • Right? Or Wrong?

    In my life, I’ve been wrong about a lot of things. In the sixth grade, I told Marsha Westbrook I was going to marry her. As this early 90s photo of me and my dad demonstrates, I once thought pleated… Continue reading