Like most of us in Houston, he came from somewhere else. In his case, home was New York. Now retired, he worked part-time as a sacker at our neighborhood Randall's supermarket, an age-indifferent job which places high school students side by side with white-haired retirees. Dependent largely on tips, they share an abundance of energy, enthusiasm and usually good cheer. "Mr. Bill," everyone called him. Although our suburb of Katy constitutes the western edge of metropolitan Houston, it still retains the feel and the friendliness of a smaller town. Mr. Bill fitted this place, and his … [Read more...]

In two months I turn 63 and almost all the 23,000 days of my life so far have been graced with energy, enthusiasm and good health. Until this point I have been spared the major maladies of cancer, stroke and heart attack, for which I give God thanks. Despite these marvelous blessings I am increasingly experiencing the mortality of this present body, a model neither intended nor equipped to function forever. Several episodes of atrial fibrillation remind me not to take the heart's steady rhythms for granted. My early stage Parkinson's disease testifies to the complexity and precariousness of … [Read more...]

This Monday (May 13, 2002) marked a milestone in my life and its passing also removed a millstone of sorts from around my neck. That day was exactly two months before my 58th birthday, which weighed on my mind because 30 years ago my father died exactly two months before he would have turned 58 years old. Call it silly, superstitious or satanic, I have long wondered, with some measure of anxiety, whether God would give me earthly life longer than he gave it to my Dad. Monday's angst was increased because that morning I entered Methodist Hospital here in Houston for sinus surgery. In my … [Read more...]

If Scripture teaches us anything about ourselves, it surely is that we are mortal creatures totally dependent on God every moment of our lives, which on earth are always temporary and at best all too brief. God made us from elements of earth, to which we eventually return. He animates our clay bodies with his gift of life-breath and makes us whole living beings ("souls" in Hebrew). Every moment's life, every experience of joy and taste of beauty, every sharing of love -- all are gifts of divine grace to a frail people living in a broken world. I have known this all my life and have taught … [Read more...]

I say "reflections of a turtle" because these are a few thoughts that impressed me deeply while I was lying flat on my back for large periods of time during the past two weeks following back surgery. (And, unless something really motivates me, this is the last you will have to hear about that entire experience.) The first morning after surgery I gained a profound appreciation for the simplicity of intimacy, when wife Sara Faye came to my bedside with a breakfast tray and proceeded to feed me, spoon by spoon, a wonderful bowl of warm oatmeal coated with brown sugar. I was too "stove up," as … [Read more...]

It is true that 48 hours earlier I had been deeply anesthetized during surgery. More anesthesia than usual, as it happened, because scar tissue from an earlier epidural prolonged the procedure, and also to offset a sudden increase in blood pressure during surgery. Then there were the post-op pills -- an anti-inflammatory, a muscle relaxant and a narcotic pain reliever. Whatever the reason, sleep had been troubled both nights since surgery. Frightful nightmares, interrupted by waking almost hourly to a sense of horror and thoughts of death. I prayed for peace of mind and sleep, but neither came … [Read more...]