Tag: understanding
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Binnewater: An unknown chapter of American History
Article – https://www.nytimes.com/1897/05/31/archives/strange-colony-in-ulster-a-fisheating-basketmaking-tribe-whose.html The Binnewater Lakes are a chain of five small lakes near the hamlet of Binnewater in the town of Rosendale, NY. In the late 1800s, this area was mainly populated by descendants of Dutch and Palatine settlers. While the Dutch influence is well-documented, the Palatine story is one of the most impactful,…
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Eighteen Miles
The fog down by the river was thick enough to make the Headless Horseman nervous. Somewhere out on the water a foghorn groans its low and beautiful note, and a train answers from somewhere further still. I prepared for the Bible study in that fog. It was as good a place as any. Having a…
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Road to Emmaus
“Then He asked them, ‘What is this dispute that you’re having with each other as you are walking?’” And they stopped walking and looked discouraged. The one named Cleopas answered him, “Are you the only visitor in Jerusalem who doesn’t know the things that happened therefore in these days?” “What things?” he asked them. So…
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A Fragmented Story
I Went to the gas station off the Thruway for snacks. You could tell right away he didn’t belong to the rhythm of the place. Everyone else moved with purpose. Grab, pay, leave. He lingered. Talking to no one and everyone at the same time. Layers of clothing that didn’t match the weather. Hair uneven.…
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Floating on broken water
The river is in pieces today. Tons of tiny icebergs that look like dirty shards of dull glass are carried in the current. Some of them hesitate near the edges and gather in the bays, catching for a moment, while the current keeps pulling the rest north. A barge comes through carrying large construction equipment.…
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The Unlosable Assignment
“I don’t say this out of need, for I have learned to be content in whatever circumstances I find myself. I know how to make do with little, and I know how to make do with a lot. In any and all circumstances I have learned the secret of being content, whether well fed or…
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Emmanuel: God With Us
Luke 2:8-14—Now there were in the same country shepherds living out in the fields, keeping watch over their flock by night. And behold, an angel of the Lord stood before them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were greatly afraid. Then the angel said to them, “Do not be afraid,…
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Isaac Jogues: The Missionary Who Walked Back Into the Fire
The Thirty Years’ War was raging in Europe, fueling a near–cold-war divide between Protestant and Catholic powers. France, under Catholic monarchs like Louis XIII, was aggressively Counter-Reformationist, using the Jesuits as intellectual and spiritual shock troops to reclaim ground lost to Protestantism. Meanwhile, across the Atlantic, the New World was a chaotic frontier. French, English,…
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70,000 fathom ladder
The 70,000 fathom ladder – A man spent years climbing a huge ladder. People cheered him on, told him it led somewhere important. So he kept going step after step, never looking down. When he finally reached the top, he found nothing there. No platform. No door. No destination. Just empty air. Then he looked…
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The whole duty of man
It doesn’t take a lifetime of study, a degree, or a thousand books. Sometimes, just one moment, one phrase, one verse, one realization is enough to change everything. Paul was not uneducated or uninformed. In fact, he was the opposite. He was a scholar, a Pharisee, trained under Gamaliel (Acts 22:3), zealous for the Law,…
Pilgrims Ponder 