(a Steve Orr Bible reflection)   The TV commercial focused on a teenager doing research, nervous about giving his first speech. The word  glossophobia  popped up on his tablet screen. That’s the fear of public speaking.   Most of us can relate. Multiple studies have confirmed our number one fear is having to give a speech. That’s ahead of, in order, spiders, death, and heights. And the greatest anxiety we associate with public speaking is brain freeze: unable to recall what w

Joice continues in her journal:  Tuesday, June 11: I started my mouth hygiene. I floss before I brush my teeth with a sensitive toothpaste, then rinse with baking soda and water. I also use fluoride in my teeth trays for ten minutes to thirty minutes. Then no eating or drinking and then I do some mask-tongue exercises to strengthen the throat muscles. They took 10 minutes and after that I went to the exercise room. Thursday, June 13: up early as we have an 8.30 appointment wi

(a Steve Orr scripture reflection)   “I’m with you.”    No matter who is saying it, when you  need  to believe that, you  want  to believe that. In the Steve Martin comedy  My Blue Heaven , it’s a mid-level mafioso saying it to an FBI agent. Can the agent believe it?  Should  he believe it?    If he were skeptical, would you blame him?   The FBI agent, Barney Coopersmith, is assigned to keep the mafioso, Vinnie Antonelli, out of trouble until he can testify against one of his

I turn now to the journal that Joice kept during her treatment at MD Anderson to remind me of what she was thinking and feeling. My first thought was to include many entries from Joice’s journal, but I have changed my mind. I do include some, but most were personal and I know she would not want them repeated, so I have been very selective. Here is one from her birthday: Sunday, May 19: My 82 nd  birthday and I didn’t sleep well. I went to church [1 st  Baptist in Houston] and

(a Steve Orr Bible reflection)   One day in the early 1960s, Dad finished a pack and declared he was done smoking cigarettes. He was medically trained and believed the reports that were starting to circulate: Smoking was a danger to health. Even though many in the medical field disagreed with those early studies, Dad thought they had validity. So, he quit.   It didn’t go all that well. He was always grumpy and out of sorts. He held out almost a month before he resumed smoking

Like a monster rising from the sea, Covid hit, and like most people our age, Joice and I were careful to get our Covid shots, stay 6 feet away from people in-line, and wear face masks. Things and events were changing. I have always been thankful and amazed at how quickly Joice developed friendships. She always wanted to meet people, hear their stories, and be their friend. I am more reserved and introverted, but I began to attend a men’s Bible study shortly after we arrived i

(a Steve Orr Bible reflection)   It's not really giving anything away to reveal that the film  The Birds  concerns birds run amuck. Of his 1963 movie masterpiece, director Alfred Hitchcock said, "It could be the most terrifying motion picture I have ever made!" Even though it looks a bit dated now, especially in the area of special effects, the terror of unexplained bird attacks comes through undiminished!    The film’s source material is less widely known. Evan Hunter (known

When Joice began her treatments at MD Anderson on May 16, 2013, she kept careful and detailed notes, 156 pages of them.  We left for Houston at 6.08 on that morning of May 16, after being advised that she was approved by United Health as a “Single Patient Agreement” with MD Anderson Cancer Hospital, of which the Proton Therapy Center is a part. She was the first patient with this type of cancer that our insurance plan had approved for treatment at both entities.  While the ho

(a Steve Orr Bible reflection)   Han Solo is one of the most compelling characters of the  Star Wars  saga. Whether you consider him a hero of the revolution or an enemy of the state, his journey is worth following all the way to the end. When we first meet Han in the original Star Wars film, he is hanging out in a bar with his…um, “peers.” Obi-Wan Kenobi describes the Mos Eisley Cantina as “a wretched hive of scum and villainy.” When we first meet Han, he’s seems to belong i

After Joice and I went back to PNG for the revision of the West Kewa NT, its dedication, and the translation and dedication of the East Kewa NT in 2005, for the next several years we lived in our house in Duncanville, a suburb southwest of Dallas. In 2008 I was diagnosed with prostate cancer, and we were faced with several options about my treatment. One was to “wait and see,” because it was reported as a slow and non-aggressive form, so we decided on that course. It is now 2