For the Restoration of Life and Soul . . .

          09.11.25–It still stirs something inside to write that date. 9/11. What a day that was. Really, a terrible day. Like most Americans, I imagine, I had considered us invincible. I never suspected an attack on our own soil. I thought we were too powerful for that. But that illusion came crashing down along with the towers that day. And I think the impact on our country is being felt severely to this day. Since then, we’ve lived mostly in a state of fear. We fear “the other” and what their race or skin color or lifestyle might mean for us. We suspect it will cost us our way of life. So our politicians govern by fear. Many preachers fill up their churches by the use of fear. And fear is easy to stir up. Rupert Murdoch has made himself even richer through the fear Fox News inflames. On the other side of the aisle, MSNBC is doing quite well financially, also. And now we live in a country where we’re all afraid of the ones who are not like us, who worship ...

  On July 30th, following a week’s hospital stay, my little sister, Ruth, was diagnosed with a form of lung cancer that only 8% of non smokers get. She went home that afternoon with oxygen support and plans to meet with an oncologist to create her treatment plan. Friday morning, August 1st, she was taken back to the hospital by ambulance. I was at my office on a phone call when I got a message from my sister, Kay, to call her. I immediately hung up and called her. It was terrible news. Her cancer was stage four and untreatable. By the next day they were saying it was like a wildfire inside her. She died August 9th.         The loss of Ruth still occupies many of my thoughts. I think about our next trip to Kansas in a few days and try to acknowledge that she won't be there and it is still difficult to do. It just happened at such a stunning pace.         I've now lost my mom and dad and the two siblings ...