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January 2023 – That’s my old truck!  The familiar profile of the truck caught my eye as I drove by.  I was surprised to see it parked up against a rocky cliff road cut alongside two-lane Glacier highway at the intersection with Fritz Cove Road.  I turned around and came back to verify my impression.  READ MORE

Happy the man, and happy he alone,He who can call today his own:He who, secure within, can say,Tomorrow do thy worst, for I have lived today.Be fair or foul or rain or shineThe joys I have possessed, in spite of fate, are mine.Not Heaven itself upon the past has power,But what has been, has been, READ MORE

July, 2021 – In the two days after we returned from our six-week trip, I’d unpacked, gone through the mail, and sorted out the urgent tasks from the important tasks.  I was anxious to go for a hike at the earliest opportunity to see how my newly fixed heart would perform on familiar ground.  Despite READ MORE

June 2021 – Twelve days ago a cardiologist inserted two stents in my heart to open up a nearly complete blockage of my left anterior descending (LAD) coronary artery and a small bifurcated vessel near it.  Now I am preparing to undertake a 120-mile bike ride.  I told the cardiologist about our plans when he READ MORE

“Your eyes saw my unformed body; all the days ordained for me were written in your book before one of them came to be.” Psalm 139:16 NIV My mind was numb as I watched the green rolling hills and pastures of grazing cattle pass by on the highway taking us back toward Montana.  Too much READ MORE

I love winter.  Particularly here in Alaska.  I love how the daylight comes and goes with a distinctive blue tone, and how mornings take a long time to arrive and evening light begins in early afternoon, with darkness taking over shortly thereafter.  As the rain turns to snow more frequently, the earth is signaling that READ MORE

This is a very personal blog, with a level of sharing beyond anything I could have ever imagined offering publicly. My purpose is sharing a greater depth of my experience with readers, in hopes that it might provide a cautionary tale to others, but also one of hope. I’m still here. I still have an READ MORE

Cast all your anxieties on him, because he cares for you. 1 Peter 5:7 ESV Mornings in hospitals come early.  Painfully, rudely early.  I’m not quite sure why, but my experience has been that a 4 a.m. wakeup call is typical.  Nurses wake you up to take vitals, take blood, give medications, and generally make READ MORE

Fear not, for I am with you; be not dismayed, for I am your God; I will strengthen you, I will help you, I will uphold you with my righteous right hand. Isaiah 41:10 ESV Sleeping helped the two-hour ride in the back of the ambulance pass quickly.  The paramedic told me we were about READ MORE

The Lord is my strength and my shield; in him my heart trusts, and I am helped; my heart exults, and with my song I give thanks to him. Psalm 28:7 ESV Sometimes saying you’re grateful for all that you have, especially at Thanksgiving, seems like a cliché.  Who among us hasn’t said a prayer READ MORE

June 2021 – It woke me at three o’clock in the morning.  It was unmistakable, undeniable.  My heart felt like a clenched fist.  Unlike anything I’d ever felt before, it was squeezing itself tightly, painfully in my chest.  There was no doubt in my mind – I was having a heart attack.  The pain, like READ MORE

I couldn’t have imagined that a crisis would ultimately become the key to breaking down the barriers within me.  Barriers to writing, to sharing my struggle, to accepting help, and to deepening my faith.  It wasn’t a singular event, but a series of events that lead to a soul-crushing health crisis that was beyond my READ MORE