A Tale of Three Californians
In a small village just outside a big town in southern California, there once was a church. Attending this church were three men. Two had moved there from towns far across the country, where people dwelt in darkness, with oppressive extremes of temperature, during most of the year. The other was himself from California, from [...]
My friend Depression
I’d like you to meet my friend. I haven’t seen her for a while now; she tends to come and go as she pleases. Every so often she will drop in, stay a while, and leave when she thinks she’s kept me company for long enough. Whenever she’s around, my days need to be re-organized. [...]
How to embrace the good in depression
Depression has been a familiar and unwelcome companion through my 20s. I have had six unannounced visits over the past ten years, each visit lasting between one and six months.These excerpts from my journal will give you an idea of how I felt during these times: Nov 2003: “I don’t know what’s wrong with me. Something [...]
Struggling with merciful purchasing
A while ago I purchased a book called, “The Better World Shopping Guide” and the corresponding “Better World Shopper iPhone App.” It is an invaluable resource for anyone who cares about ethical buying. Tools like this remind us that what we purchase at the grocery store, fast food restaurant, car dealership, coffee shop, pharmacy, department [...]
Pantry remedies [Wellness Wednesday]
You have a cold. You’re sniffling, dribbling, hacking and coughing. You can’t sleep so you’re tossing and turning wishing you either stocked up on your cold and flu medicine or were back at home with mom to nurse you back to health. At home she would come to you with a hearty bowl of chicken [...]
10 foods that may surprise you [Wellness Wednesday]
Foods that you think are good for you that are actually bad for you: 1. Tea Drinks Tea drinks do not contain the same nutrients as tea. They contain a large amount of added sugars and have fewer antioxidants than brewed teas. Some of these tea drinks are even made from concentrates or essences [...]
10 tips for a healthier life
Eat organic as much as possible. Produce and meat that is not grown organically contain pesticides. Think about it this way, pesticides are sprayed and fed to produce to keep away or kill living organisms. Now why would you want that in your body? Check out the EWG’s guide to produce to find out the [...]
His skinny little wife
It started with a friend who said to me, “You’ve put on weight.” A friend who didn’t know the way I’d weighed my life as a child against food. The Middle East had swallowed me with her hills and her Jesus steps. I’d come here, 23 years old and engaged, on a six-month mission. I’d [...]
Theology of food
“Our present ecological crisis, the biggest single practical threat to our human existence in the middle to long term, has, religious people would say, a great deal to do with our failure to think of the world as existing in relation to the mystery of God, not just as a huge warehouse of stuff to [...]
Mustache Season
Hear ye, hear ye! Movember is upon us once again to bless those upper lips with the bristly bush of the mustache!
