This weekend I was able to participate in a kind of renewal for a dear friend. Like so many of us, he has been through some issues in the past. Since it is pretty much impossible to go through things in a vacuum, the people who have been around have either found out the facts,…

So the Minister of Mocha took himself a day off! Yup, I completely didn’t even show up for anything yesterday. Instead, I went with my family to San Diego for the weekend. It was a nice escape from the heat of Ridgecrest. We visited a good friend’s church and saw some inspiring things. We went…

Have you ever been sure of something only to have it go completely sideways on you? Sure you have. That was me last night at the Greek Theater in LA. Those of you who know me know that I am pretty good at trivia and that 80’s music is one of my strong suits. As…

The late, great George Carlin had a classic routine dealing with “Stuff”. We’ve all got it. I’ve been thinking about stuff lately – not the physical stuff that George talked about, you know, all the stuff we tote around. No, I’ve been thinking about the mental and emotional stuff that weighs us down. We’ve all…

I’m not sure if you’re familiar with the concept of the “horse latitudes”. Back in the days of trans-Atlantic sailing they would hit areas called doldrums. These were found around the equator where the prevailing winds tend to go calm. No wind isn’t necessarily a bad thing, unless you are counting on the winds to…

It’s Holiday month here in North America with the two giants in the North celebrating independence. Canada Day rolled by on Friday (Canada became in independent nation in 1867) and of course Independence Day here in the good ol’ USA! The only noises in our quiet offices are the tapping of my keys and John…

Does your life ever resemble a huge mess? Mine does quite frequently. Sometimes it seems like I just can’t get anything right no matter how hard I try. And then, at other times, I get on a roll where I feel invincible. Life, right? I move through my allotment of days working my steps in…

Happy Father’s Day! Yes, for this guy, it was. I spent the weekend with my kids and grand kids. I had a great time at church listening to some men from our congregation talking about how they navigate through the tough parts of being a dad. I even got a really cool gift in a…

I spent a large part of this last week traveling to see my daughter and son-in-law in Portland, OR. It was a great time. Our main purpose for the trip was to go to her White Coat Ceremony as she enters PA School at Pacific University. What a proud moment! Pride aside, the best part…

I remember D-Day being a “bigger deal” when I was a kid. I guess there were more folks around who had more vivid memories of what happened on those beaches. It’s interesting how the things of today that seem important will eventually fade into our memories. This is the reason I like my first timer…