Along The Way

Last week my youngest son Donald and I drove to the retirement home where Donald set up internet access, Mozilla Firefox, and helped set up a blog for our friend Barbara.

Please visit her brand new site at http://alongthewaybybw.blogspot.com/ and welcome her to the wonderful world of blogging.

About 25 years ago Barbara, a newspaper editor, read an article I wrote about family worship. She asked if she could join us for one of our after-supper worship sessions. From that moment on, she has been our whole family’s closest friend.

She’s now retired from the newspaper but during her career there she edited a magazine for teenagers, covered both hard news and features, edited the religion magazine and wrote a weekly column called Along The Way.

Her work won many prestigious local and national awards. The hallway into the newsroom was covered with plaques awarded to her.

Her Along The Way columns drew their strength and their popularity from her deep personal devotion to Christ and from her honesty in revealing her personal struggles along the way to her goal of walking with Him.

Barbara has lead many retreats and conferences for women and her presentations resonate with people who struggle with their own crosses and tragedies and hunger for a deeper Christian walk along the way.

Over the years she has inspired me, Ginny and our children with her life and insights into living with God in our day to day life.

Of course, like all other Christians (except, of course for me) Barbara has her blind spots.

One of them involves her lack of taste in fine art.

Oh, I know that she listens to Mozart and attends opera. Pictures of Monet’s water lilies and sketches by Rim Brant, DiVenchi DaVinchi DeVenche Michelangelo, or one of those other foreign guys decorate her apartment walls.

But her taste in art just falls short.

Poor lady.

Case in point; once I saw this exquisite statue which I bought Barbara for one Christmas thinking she would treasure it.

She didn’t.

The following year, she wrapped it in Santa paper and gave it back to me.

Knowing that this had to be an artistic oversight, the following year Ginny and I re-boxed the statue and returned it to Barbara again.

Then a dear friend of Barbara’s got married to a prominent and prosperous jeweler. Knowing that the happy couple appreciated fine art, Barbara gave them the stature as a wedding present.

It overwhelmed them.

Knowing that the security system in their beachfront estate would not keep such an art treasure safe, when they got back from their honeymoon in Paris or Jamaica or wherever, the bride returned the statue to Barbara.

But Barbara just does not have good taste when it comes to fine art.

She gave the stature back to me saying that she did not think it fit her décor.

Some people lack refinement.

I proudly display the stature on the pool deck in my garden

Here, for your envy, is a photo:

Anyhow, even though she has no taste in art (or friends) , please visit her new blog, Along The Way, anyhow.