In Gennesaret

A friend of mine recently put her own birthdate on her son’s passport application by accident. A small, understandable error in the midst of the craziness that is a sudden, stressful, quickly organized move of a family of five to another country. But it had the potential of really messing up their plans, and she was, as you might imagine, quite distraught by it. During my daughter’s recent visit here, she had a car accident. She’s a good driver (she’s probably a better driver than I am). This was actually her first accident after nine years of driving. There were extenuating circumstances: it was pouring down rain, she was in a new car where she wasn’t yet familiar with the feel of the brakes, PLUS she was suffering a migraine. But the real kicker? We had yet to get her insurance adjusted for the new car, so the accident wasn’t covered. A brief period of our not being completely on top of things led to a misstep that has been an unfortunate pain in the butt for all of us. Small mi...

Just call me Team Shmuel. I mean, Lord bless that boy. He’s a fictional character created by The Chosen to represent the Pharisaic opposition to Jesus. And as the series has progressed, I’m coming to the opinion that this character is one of the most brilliant things about the show. Yes, he’s a Pharisee. He is passionate about the law. He really frustrates us at the beginning of the story because he seems to be the stereotypical Pharisee we all have in our minds when we read the gospels. The antagonist, always in Jesus’ face and bashing him behind his back. He’s black and white with no grays, and he’s trying to bring our man down. But people, give him credit for being sincere . As the story progresses and he moves up to Jerusalem to join the Sanhedrin, he is increasingly dismayed by the politics going on there. That’s not what this man is about. Shmuel loves the Lord! Shmuel loves God’s law! Shmuel loves his people and wants to bring them back where they should be in their cove...

I’m old, people. At least I feel old some days. You know when I feel most old? When moving is hard. Moving. Not moving from one home to another. Just moving . Moving my old, stiff body. Newton codified the principle in the law of inertia: “An object at rest will stay at rest and an object in motion will stay in motion – unless acted upon by an unbalanced force.” I’m a teacher on summer vacation, and the bulk of my body in any given moment is NOT in motion. And to make it move is more of a trial than it should be. But I have made a discovery. Starting to move is hard. But that’s the hardest part. Once I’m up and going, it’s just not that bad. Yes, that’s old news. That’s Newton’s law again – once in motion, it’s easier to stay in motion. The thing is, this is something we all need to be reminded of sometimes, don’t we? After my father passed away, my uncle told me a story about him. My dad was the first in his family to go to college, and my uncle was the second. About a ...