If I was talking literally about a person having “one foot in the grave,” it might be a scene for a horror movie. But idiomatically speaking, I am saying that the person is very ill and may be close to death.   It is not uncommon for people to visit the grave sites of their loved ones. They often erect tombstones with the dates of the dead etched on them, perhaps a word of scripture, a quote, or even a picture of the “departed.” Flowers are often left at the site, and loved o

(a Steve Orr Bible reflection)   I clearly remember the first time I heard—and was shaken by—a rocket engine. The testing of them is a fairly common experience for those of us living near SpaceX. That deep-throated roar has been known to shake pictures off walls, objects off shelves, and nappers off couches.    During that first test, there was one question on the mind of every person:  What is happening?!   It kept happening, though. In time, our adrenaline levels eventually

After the death of his wife, Joy Davidman, C.S. Lewis wrote “A Grief Observed.” It was first published under the name of N.W. Clerk in 1961, and is an emotional, highly personal account, of Lewis’s struggle with her death.    We may think of Jesus standing at the door and knocking, ready to come into our house and dine with us. (Revelation 3.20) Lewis, however, in prayers for his dying wife, found the door slammed in this face and bolted (double-bolted) from the inside. It wa

(a Steve Orr Bible reflection)   The first thing I was taught when learning to juggle: Start with “balls” that don’t bounce.   That's how real jugglers start out. Long before they juggle complicated things—like pins or chainsaws—they must first learn the craft. They start small, with two or three balls. Preferably, those “balls” are actually small stuffed bags that don't bounce away when they—inevitably—fall to the ground.    Most people can learn to juggle three small, same-

C.S. Lewis wrote a short story called “The Man Born Blind,” which was published in 1977, by that title. It was an early draft of a version later called simply “Light,” and both versions were studied by Charlie W. Starr in his book “ Light, C.S. Lewis’s First and Final Short Story .”    In the story, the man born blind continually hears references to something called “light,” but is left wondering and confused about what it is. He has an operation that restores his eyesight an

(a Steve Orr Bible reflection)   " The world had teeth and it could bite you with them anytime it wanted ."   The quote is from  The Girl Who Loved Tom Gordon,  one of my favorite novels. I highly recommend it to anyone who has children or who loves baseball, or anyone who loves  Stand by Me  or  Shawshank Redemption  (by the same author), or who loves an excellently written suspense tale.   Or who loves God.   Early in the novel, 9-year-old Trisha becomes lost. A wrong turn

The prefix  re-  tells us that something has happened again, or that it has returned. There has been a return to an original condition. It appears in hundreds of our words, including revival, meaning something was once alive and vivid has become alive again.   When it occurs in renewal, we can guess that something has happened to make something new again and when we die that it is exactly what happens.    Nicodemus was confused when Jesus told him he had to be “born again,” t

(a Steve Orr Bible reflection)   Santa Claus is not part of Christmas—in Italy.    Instead, children look forward to the visitation of the three kings: the Magi, the Three Wise Men. Children try to keep awake to catch a glimpse of these Three Royal Visitors. They listen for the cadence of their song in the distance, the sound of camels’ hooves crushing the frozen snow, and the tinkling of silver bridles. Children send toy requests to them, and, anticipating their arrival, lea

Did you have a good sleep? I have been asked that many times. It wouldn’t be a good one if I didn’t wake up. Or could it be good? One of the most powerful metaphors for a Christian’s death occurs in the 11 th  chapter of the book of John in the Bible. We read that Jesus said to the disciples: “ Our friend Lazarus has fallen asleep, but I will go and wake him up. However, the disciples thought that he meant “natural sleep” so Jesus told them plainly “Lazarus is dead.” Job was

(a Steve Orr Bible reflection)   Have you ever gone to the well and found it empty? The well of thoughts, that is. For some of us, reaching into our thoughts for small talk at social gatherings produces … exactly nothing. Public speakers, poets, songwriters—lots of us—go to that well and come away empty.    An empty well is one of the reasons I fell in love with the rock/jazz fusion band  Chicago . The first time I heard the group, they were performing “25 or 6 to 4. ”  * I w