(a Steve Orr Bible reflection) How’s life going? Do you sometimes feel like Wile E. Coyote in the Road Runner cartoons? No matter what approach he takes, no matter how sophisticated, he never succeeds in capturing that pesky bird! His nemesis is faster and smarter. He just can’t win. The problem: Mr. Coyote is stuck inside a paradox, a Catch-22. Mark Twain describes a coyote as “a living, breathing allegory of Want. He is always hungry.” If Twain is right, there is no w

Did you ever fall or get hit in the head and “see stars”? You felt dizzy and saw flashing lights in your head. Those are not the kinds of stars that I am writing about. I once took an airplane trip to northern California with a pilot friend of mine. We were in a small single engine aircraft and at night we opened our sleeping bags and slept out under one of the wings of the plane. It was dark, but the sky was filled with stars, millions of them. I remember the immense amaze

(a Steve Orr Bible Reflection) Many people want to be the people other people think about. There’s a preoccupation with being the topic of every conversation, being the focus of every moment, being the Main Character. Part and parcel: certain phrases we toss about on social media posts, in self-help books, and in our real world conversations. Likely you’ve heard them: "If you can't run with the big dogs, stay on the porch!" "Go big or go home!" "Cookies are for closers

Have you ever been with your girlfriend, boyfriend, wife or husband, with a beautiful, harvest moon in view? If so, you may have had the opportunity to be romantic. You might have said, “I love you to the moon,” a poetic metaphor that represents love, mystery, and a connection to unseen things above. Myths about the moon often have forbidden lovers chasing each other across the moon-lit sky and the poets, such as Emily Dickinson, Robert Loouis Stevenson, and Percy Bysshe S

(a Steve Orr Bible reflection) World War II in the Pacific officially ended when Japan surrendered in August 1945. But that didn’t end the war for everyone. Lieutenant Hiro Onoda was one of several specially trained Japanese soldiers assigned to occupy small Pacific islands. They had been ordered to disrupt and sabotage enemy efforts—and never surrender or take their own lives. Lieutenant Onoda was a man who followed orders. Despite several attempts by the post-war Japa

The colors and majesty of sunsets and sunrises are wonderful. During the “dry season” in the mountains of Papua New Guinea I would often contemplate the beauty of God’s creation, available in technicolor, with shadows and clouds reflecting through the sunshine. “God made a home in the sky for the sun; it comes out in the morning like a happy bridegroom, like an athlete eager to run a race. It starts at one end of the sky and goes across to the other. Nothing can hide from it

(a Steve Orr Bible reflection) Everything about that morning was unexpected. First, it was cool. That summer had been one of the hottest in recent memory, triple digits for days on end. So, by "cool," I mean it was a pleasant morning to take a stroll in a short-sleeved shirt. Also, I was early. Unexpected. I often needed to hurry from the commuter rail station to my office. But not that morning. Morning was still dawning. The sun had yet to crest the buildings, the tall

Have you ever had your “feelings” hurt or have someone tell you that you hurt their feelings? Do some people “get on your nerves”? How do you respond when someone asks, “How are you feeling?” They rarely want to know, it is usually just an idiomatic greeting. When we want to feel something physically, we can touch it. However, feelings can also occur in a metaphorical sense, as for example when, “all Egypt began to feel the famine.” (Genesis 41.55. The Israelites also kne

(a Steve Orr Bible reflection) How do you face the day? Do you need Gordon Lightfoot’s proverbial second cup of coffee? Or maybe you need a battle cry to get your motor running? Conventional wisdom tells us to seize the day: Carpe Diem! When I hear that phrase, it conjures those stirring last lines of William Ernest Henley's poem, Invictus: "I am the master of my fate, I am the captain of my soul." People everywhere urge us to seize the day. They write about it, m

We are commanded to love the Lord our God with all our heart, mind, strength, and “soul.” Furthermore, we are not to be afraid of those who can kill the body but cannot kill the “soul.” It is only God who can destroy both (Matthew 10.28). But what is the soul and how does it differ from the spirit? One Internet answer (gotquestions.org) puts it like this: “The soul and the spirit are the two primary immaterial parts ascribed to humanity in Scripture.” Nevertheless, discerni