the meaning of life?

i walked out the back door and came upon a squirrel scarfing down sunflower seeds beneath the bird feeder. as i approached he scurried away up the redbud tree, as usual.

then, suddenly, he stopped a few feet from the ground, turned, fixed his gaze upon me, and started into a very strange soliloquy:

"is this all there is, then? up and down the trees all day, jumping from branch to branch, living paw to mouth, waiting to see if a bird off-hand drops a seed or two for me for nurishment, or digging in the ground on the chance that there might be something to eat buried there?"

"mating a few times a year with god only knows who...never the same one twice. can't build any kind of relationship like that, can you?  kids move away and never come around to give me any thanks."

"always afraid that someone's going to shoot me and have me for a stew? fleas eating me alive and no aloe vera or anything like that to stop the irritation--you live, eat, sleep, mate, and die. and who remembers you when you're gone? 5 generations from now...in a year or so...no one will even remember my name."

"and then there's you, coming out six, seven times a day scaring the daylights out of me, interrupting my eating. it's not fair. there's got to  be more to life than this, doesn't there?"

at least that's what i heard him saying.

we stood there in silence for a while, face to face in the garden. i tried to come up with something comforting to say, but had no words for an existential rodent with a furry tail. looking a bit disappointed at my lack of response, he darted into the canopy of the trees and was gone, leaving me wondering at the strangeness of it all.

it did make me feel a little better about my lot in life, i must admit.

health care observation

today i stopped by ku medical center in kck to see a member of our church family. they are in the midst of a huge addition to the hospital.
not surprising. since we moved to overland park in 1997 every hospital in the kansas city area that hasn't closed has had major additions costing God only knows how many hundreds of millions of dollars. they've also remodeled practically every part of the old buildings, again costing mega bucks. children's mercy has added a southern location, as has st. luke's. both have already had to add additional space.

i just wonder...is there maybe a correlation between the rising cost of healthcare and the seemingly insatiable appetite for expansion of the hospitals?

i'm just saying...
rw

happy birthday

3 years ago today my life changed forever. in a good way. an excellent way.
the day started pretty rocky, but with the help of some family, some old friends and new friends, my life has never been the same. never will be.
thank you terry. thank you family. thank you joe, lee, glen, chris, marc and tony.

and, mostly, thank you Jesus. thank you, thank you Jesus. you never gave up, never let go, wore me down and are making me what you want.
and it's never been better. but it will be

back in the saddle...

it's been about 3 years since my last post on blogspot. when i signed off, i said i guess i didn't have anything more to say. a lot's happened since then...

i think brandi carlile's song "the story" sums up a lot of what's in my head these days, so i'll start by sharing a link to her live performance

i think i'll have a lot more to say in the near future...been thinking a lot about all the changes that have happened in my life, in the world, in the church, in my head. check back later...i'd love to hear from you, too