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Reputations are killers….
A lot of life intersections lately have brought up the old familiar theme of reputation. The question itself is a tricky one – asking me to consider what others think of me. That’s some slippery ground…. The older we get the more we see and experience reputations falling down all around us. It may … Continue reading
Pencils, Silence & Influence
Last night at our Cadence meeting, I felt utterly loved and cared for because Sandra appeased my writing utensil fetish. As the pencils were passed around, they were sharpened to the finest point possible. When it comes to writing – a sharp pencil can cause me to glance at my Precision v5 Pilot with an … Continue reading
My one and only baby boy…
I have finally mustered the courage to blog about our recent faith journey…as we leave in a couple hours to have doctors follow up and check my now-healthy son – I wanted to share some of the highlights of the last two weeks. After a week of fever, we finally took Jack to the ER…we … Continue reading
A High-Energy Surrender? Huh?
I’ll never forget where I was. A beautiful beach in Okinawa and my friend Candy suggested: “Don’t you think you just have a lot more energy than most people?” I remember being shocked…the thought had never occurred to me. That day I realized that maybe the reason that Jack has woken up at 5:30 a.m. … Continue reading
‘Tis So Hard to Trust in Jesus….
I love the hymn I am parodying with this title (is that sacreligious…a parody of a hymn?..my Dad is broken-hearted, I’m sure!). The truth is that while it’s “sweet” as the hymn really says, well…it’s equally hard. Thankfully, I have about 25 years of history under my belt of trusting Jesus…but lately, I’ve been reminded … Continue reading
Discipleship IS compelling….
I did it again – I placed a lesser value on something God values highly. When this happens, God usually decides to show off while He expertly reviews His value chart (over and over again). Here’s how it went down: As we started into the beginning of our Discipleship Training School, we realized quickly that … Continue reading
A Thankful Missionary….
Dear Friends… You know those days where you the Lord presses His thumb on your heart so hard you can almost feel it? I am struck today with the blessings of our life….how many luxuries I enjoy and well, often downright, assume. These revelations came to a head today with an odd mix of happenings… … Continue reading
Pecans & Life in America
Life is a wee bit more distracting in America…yikes – just the commercials have all of us Rathmells gawking at the TV – we are so easily sold because of the amazing graphics and professional wooing. Jack knows that Geico can save us 15% or more in 15 minutes, that you can eat Taco Bell … Continue reading
The “Real” Deal…
Many of you know we’re coming back to the USA next Wednesday – we actually hop over to Hong Kong on Tuesday, spend the night there and hope to catch a standby flight from there direct to Newark (only 15 1/2 hours)… Anyhow..in the midst of our thinking about America, the kids keep coming up … Continue reading
Here I go again…
Some of you may have noticed I’ve been absent from the blogging world…I don’t really know how to explain why. Well, first off, my travel blogging hopes were not only dashed, they were obliterated with the shameful lack of internet in New Zealand. Talk about taking the wind out of my sails…I was so eager… … Continue reading