Category: Life Happens
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The Big Seven Zero
The big “Seven Zero” caught me, today. I ran from it for years hoping to stay young! Maybe, I just got too old and tired to outrun it! Birthdays just kept coming with unwavering persistence, and, like it or not, I turned 70 years old. Seven decades is a milestone that takes a lifetime to…
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The Girl With Dirt On Her Face
A photo of Jackie nailed itself to the back wall of my heart months before I even met her. To me, she was an unknown girl, half reclining, half sitting, in the back of a truck. She wore jeans, their blue color obliterated, painted over with a thick layer of tan colored dust. Her face…
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Supper Time In Heaven
As kids on the Big Springs Ranch my older brother, Paul, and I used to play far from the house. The ranch lay in the ancient path where the lava flowed the last time Mt. Shasta blew it’s top centuries ago. In green pastures, dotted with white-faced Herefords (cows), piles of volcanic rock, seeded with…
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Stiff-Necked, Me?
Had I gone after these trees when they first sprouted, I could have pulled them up with my fingers. Being faithful years ago would have spared me hours today, sweating, getting blisters and wishing I was back home in Montana!
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Hair Today, Gone Tomorrow
That was the last day that I was clean shaven until the Corona disaster swept the country in 2020. Call it COVID-19 boredom if you will, but after online Sunday School and church, I went into the bathroom and hacked the beard off my face. Since we couldn’t go anywhere with the quarantine, and most…
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Dancing With Death At The Crossroads
In the days following, and even today, 47 years later, I still ponder what happened on that day. I cried out and God heard my cry. His timing was perfect! One second, sooner or later, the outcome would have been drastically different. It was the day that God made two trucks dance together and not…
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A Dog Tale
On the day that Jackie brought him home from the dog pound, Pepper was in his terrible twos, an age he never grew out of! He was a black and white Cocker Spaniel. From the beginning, he disliked dog training and, from most people, he would not tolerate a gentle push on the behind to…
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On Time, But Missed The Train
Waiting on the platform was so hot! I was soon soaked with sweat and we still had half hour to wait. All the benches on our side were ablaze with sun. No way was I going to wait there! I knew the northbound side was just as hot, but “northbound” sounded cooler, and the benches…
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The Execution of Nighty Mouse
Despite our best efforts, intruders still breeched the barriers and came inside. Some made themselves at home, hiding from us in the daylight hours. One, I called Nighty Mouse because it came out every night to wreak havoc in our kitchen. It chewed holes in papayas, tomatoes, bags of sugar, and anything else that was…
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Into The Unknown
“Hope there isn’t a surprise attack tonight, Lord.” I prayed. Musing, I continued, “Maybe they’re afraid of the dark!” I had been told they were, and I was hoping it was true! “Lord, let this group of Yuqui be reached soon! Amen!”
Writings By Phil 