The Poll

A Man Called Preach

Happy 40th Birthday, Big Bird and friends!
Today was the beginning of the 40th season of Sesame Street. My daughter and I were watching Sesame Street together today.  This show, after 40 years, remains far and away my favorite kids show.  I loved it when I was a kid, and I actually enjoy watching it with my daughter now. My strongest memory from the Street as a kid was when the grownups finally saw Snuffy.  I felt so bad for Big Bird for years a

285
I had a great workout this morning.  I bench pressed 285 pounds.  For most people, that would not be a significant milestone.  For me, it was huge. The last time I bench pressed 285 pounds I was 17 years old.  This morning I was so nervous when I put that much weight on the bar.  I felt confident, because I knew I had done 275 last week pretty easily and I had two good workouts since then.  Yet after putting on that much weight I was unsure.  I paced back and forth staring at the bar.  I remember the last time I did that much. I was a senior in high school.  I wanted to be the starting center on our football team. I wanted to get a good score on the ACT

Veterans’ Day
Litany for Veterans One: God of love, peace and justice, it is your will for the world that we may live together in peace. You have promised through the prophet Isaiah that one day the swords will be beaten into ploughshares. Yet we live in a broken world, and there are times that war seems inevitable. Let us recognize with humility and sadness the tragic loss of life that comes in war. Even so, as we gather here free from persecution or , we may give thanks for those that have served with courage and honor. Please Rise: Those that are in our presence that are either in active duty or reserve duty, and the fathers, mothers, siblings, spouses and grandparent

Fish Funeral
I am preparing to do another funeral, but I’m struggling because I have been flipping through the UM Book of Worship and have not found a liturgy for fish. My daughter will be three in January. She has a pet fish named Dorothy (I think 95% of fish owned by kids under 5 are named either Dorothy or Nemo). It is sick. It is a Beta. Once it was a brilliant red, with flowing fins and a swatch of glowing blue. Once it swam around her tank, eager for a couple of little pellets. We swore that she would come out from behind her rock whenever our daughter entered the room. We had some adventures with Dorothy. There was the time our daughter, while we thought she wa

Hummus
I just tried to make hummus for the first time.  I love to snack, and I love to dip.  Unfortunately, my favorite salty dipping snack is a bag of Ruggles and some Dean’s French Onion Dip.  This is a small part of why this blog is called what it is.  So I tried some hummus recently with pita chips, and I liked it.  So, instead of laying down $4 for a small thing of hummus, I spent a fraction of that and made a big bowl of the stuff.  It is really good.  It took about 10 minutes. 1 16 oz. can of chick peas. 1/2 red pepper 1/2 yellow pepper 2 cloves of garlic 2 Tb. olive oil 1 tsp. Cumin red pepper flakes (optional)