Today I used up my first tube of toothpaste, after recently concluding my first bottle of dish soap. These firsts are measured since moving here, in July. Things had a much shorter half-life in the 14 or so person household I came from, where the close proximity of many bodies caused a concentration of gravity that contracted the time continuum.

When Christ promised to send the Holy Spirit, He promised His presence. He did not promise to send the Cure for Cancer, or the Defeat of Enemies, or Happy Feelings. When we are suffering, we tend to cry out to God, “God, please, change our circumstances so that we no longer suffer; or at least please make the pain less.” Read More

Just before the Christmas break I made an exception from my usual hermitage and joined some coworkers at a bar after work. I had ginger ale. I seriously considered ordering a drink. All I wanted to do was relax and enjoy some company, as I typically do with my family on Saturday, and I couldn’t relax. The conversation consisted of Read More

Tuesday, toward the end of the shift, I realized my back was going to seize up. I shifted and there was a quick flicker, such as sometimes happens to the power just before an outage, of tightness across my back. I had not done any lifting or straining that day or the day before. The only thing I can think Read More