Riding my bike around Bend to run errands, visit, and just doing life, I see so much more than when in my truck. I enjoy looking at and into the cars that pass and wondering about the driver. Where are they off to?

While cruising around Substack recently, I came across a blog post that included the story repeated below. It’s worth the read.

I witnessed something at a coffee shop. Teenager working register. Couldn’t have been more than sixteen. New uniform, still stiff.

Fifty years ago I was on the backside of squeezing four years into five at the Mother of All Universities, Oregon State. Along the way I developed friendships with a number of dudes who enjoyed the same stuff, had similar goals and made me better for being around them. We were young and full of life.

There sure seems to be a bumper crop of evil in the world these days. Perhaps one result of technology’s instant feed of all things everywhere is that the outlook looks worse than ever and that everything lies in shadow, or maybe we really are devolving worldwide…I don’t know.

Once again we stand almost midweek in Holy Week, bracketed by Palm Sunday and Easter.

Each day of that week was packed with memorable events and like a river picking up speed toward a set of falls, the pace quickened with each passing day.

When I’m not otherwise occupied solving the world’s problems, I enjoy reading or listening to novels.

Mostly I’m waist-deep in murder-mysteries, spook and spy twisties, period thrillers and the like. One author I enjoy is Daniel Silva.

A simple stack of stones.

Doesn’t seem like much of anything special, but it would remain a touchstone of reminders for generations. After 40 years of wandering, a new generation of Jews finally crossed the Jordan River and began their quest to establish their home in the promised to them by God.

Teaching history in high school was not unlike bowling with the “bumpers” in the gutters.

Those bumpers kept me in the lane, provided boundaries (that I often kinda fudged) and helped prepare the students for the inevitable exams, whether from the state or the AP board.

This past fall, Claudia and I went on vacation. Far from home and thrown together with mostly strangers and predominately British, part of the adventure was getting to know people and hearing their stories (I’m looking at you, Nigel and Sue!).

We are just about done with the first full week of Lent. Like me, many of you have not been raised in liturgical traditions that followed this yearly 40 day trek to Easter weekend, but were at least aware of the season. It remains a bit of an unexplored region for me, and I like looking into new ways to grow in faith.

Skipping a stone across Moses’ life reveals a 120 year roller-coaster ride.

• Born at a time of great danger and slavery but rescued by royalty

• Raised in privilege gaining great power and influence

His name is… well, let’s just call him Ralph.

He lives out in the dirt east of Redmond. Plenty young and apparently healthy, Ralph can’t seem to get out of his own way. He sports numerous tattoos, several piercings along with barrels in his ears and always welcomes us when we roll up in the Share Van.

If the weather isn’t too sketchy, I usually ride my bike around town rather than drive. Often I can get where I am going fast enough for me because of traffic, and the bonus is a little exercise and really seeing, feeling, smelling and being part of the world around me.

Last Thursday night Claudia and I went to the Tower Theater and were in the audience for Garrison Keillor. He was in town for one night and the joint was full…of geezers who remember A Prairie Home Companion on public radio every Saturday afternoon.

Back a few years, I had surgery for the “man cancer” so many guys get. After they yanked out the offending lower unit and a short stay in the most expensive bad hotel in town, a good friend gave me a ride home while Claudia was out of town helping our daughter who needed her mom.

Being a routine guy, most of my mornings follow a predictable pattern. I take lots of stuff for granted, and any given morning can stand as an example.

• I roll out of bed to a warm house

• First stop is the bathroom where a toilet flushes and sink water runs to rinse my face