Noticing

For a bit of time in 2015, Robert Krulwich and Aatish Bhatia authored a blog called “Noticing,” saying that it was for folks who “like to look around. Who can’t not. Who find it hard to get anywhere on time because there’s always something—an oddly behaving raindrop (is it going up? How can it go up?)—that we can’t not notice, not puzzle over.” They called themselves badly over-puzzled. Hmmmm…Woah! Huh? Aha! Their notion was that observation and curiosities—those little things that “catch the eye”—can put us in a state of  They invited every reader to join them on a journey “to...Read more …

Most likely most of us are more-than-familiar with the following little exchange that occurred between Jesus and another man. The other guy has been referred to as an expert in religious law, a lawyer, as well as an authority of the law, among other things. Their conversation is recorded in the Gospel of Luke 10:25-28: One day an expert in religious law stood up to test Jesus by asking him this question: “Teacher, what should I do to inherit eternal life?” Jesus replied, “What does the law of Moses say? How do you read it?” The man answered, “‘You must love the...Read more …

This is Walk the Way, brought to you by Q Place, I’m Jeff Klein. Our friend, Charlie, talks about being a dorm parent in a school in Venezuela many years ago. He was driving a 7-passenger van full of students back into the town where the school was located. A storm had just passed through and Charlie noticed a branch that had blown down, blocking the sidewalk. At the same time, he also noticed a blind man walking down that sidewalk unaware of the fallen limb. Charlie immediately stopped, helped the man around the obstacle and returned to the van,...Read more …

I have been gobbling up Kent Annan’s new book Slow Kingdom Coming this summer, especially his thoughts on paying attention and how that practice is so closely linked to slowing down. Did you know scientific studies show that our brains pay better attention if—even just three times a day—we slow down to meditate for five minutes? Certainly, as Kent writes, spiritual disciplines—like those in Richard Foster’s work, Celebration of Discipline—help to cultivate attention. Kent provides his own anecdotal evidence based on the time he decided to intentionally practice slowing down, retreating at a Benedictine monastery and pausing throughout the day for times...Read more …

This is Walk the Way, brought to you by Q Place, I’m Jeff Klein. And I”m Pam Klein. Beatrice is a vibrant, young mom who was originally a refugee from East Africa. To say that her life has been hard is an understatement! But because of God’s grace, she and her five little girls are on a good road now. On one Sunday morning, right before our worship gathering began, little Ella–the middle one in the lineup–was really giving her mom a hard time. Nothing awful, just what kids do. That’s when I saw my own daughter, Morghin, cross over, scoop...Read more …

When various people from various calls of life all “happened” to arrive at a Whole Foods  grocery store near Superior, Colorado, at about the same time one day, none of them expected they would get out of their respective cars, cross the parking lot, and find a woman, collapsed next to her cart, sobbing. Deborah Greene was just on her way out of the store with her groceries when her phone rang. She paused to answer it and that’s when her brother told her that their father had killed himself. Eleven months later, after grappling with the guilt and trauma...Read more …

During dinner one night right after Christmas break, our fifteen year-old son, Joseph, announced that he and his gym-class teammate had lost their physical education round-robin-tournament championship badminton match earlier that day. He jokingly added, “I led us to the finals, and then we got creamed.” His dad (all about sports competition, of any sort) asked, “Who was your partner?” “This other kid named Joe.” “Did you get paired up with him?” Code for: surely that was the reason for the loss. The strong got put with the weak. “Nope. I chose him.” “Why didn’t you choose someone better?” “‘Cuz...Read more …

Ever been so intent on noticing others that you had no idea someone was noticing you? An experience I had a few years ago confirmed that you never know who’s watching your life. It was Christmastime and Starbucks was its usual crazy busy. I had been working a lot but had no defining moment that I could point to that would explain what I did to throw my back out. I spent most of Christmas Eve and Christmas Day on the couch, but I knew that others had covered for me while I was gone during Thanksgiving. There was no...Read more …

This is Walk the Way, brought to you by Q Place, I’m Jeff Klein. And I’m Pam Klein. When he walked up to the register, the barista greeted him and asked, “What can I get started for you?” He replied: “a venti nonfat latte.” She marked the cup and then asked, “What’s your name?” Wolfgang. After a few more interactions like that one, the barista cemented his name in her head, always greeting him by name. Similar 30-second encounters occurred for several years. Until one day the barista realized that Wolfgang had stopped coming altogether. Fast forward a year. And...Read more …