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The road to hell is paved with chip and seal. At least that is my hunch. That statement, or course, is a play on the old saying, “The road to hell is paved with good intentions.” I take that to mean that many good thoughts and plans never become reality, and without their contribution to the flow of things, many good ideas never come to fruition. Meaning well, by itself, isn’t enough.   I think…

Most of us can probably remember a class in school that elevated our stress levels beyond the norm. Whether it was first grade show and tell or dissecting a frog in high school biology, butterflies fluttered in our stomachs or we broke out in a mild sweat until it was over. One of my stressors was a course in Rabbinic Hebrew. No, no, I didn’t convert to Judaism while you weren’t paying attention;…

None of us is as young as we once were. Even though our minds like to pretend that we haven’t lost a step, occasional moments of truth send us reminders that things are changing. I received one such notification while hiking in Ethiopia at 11,000 feet. At that height, a person is entering the land of rarefied air. That is probably no big deal to experienced mountain climbers but for me, that is a…

The reflection in the screen of the laptop looked a lot like me. Or at least, like the me I have become. My maternal grandmother once told one of my sisters when looking at a collection of her yearly school photos that she changed so much with each photo she looked like a different person in every year. I’ve pretty much always looked like myself until recently. The once-black beard, started the…

It was one of those “fry an egg on the sidewalk” kind of days where just the thought of venturing outdoors makes you break out in a sweat. After a train ride through the Mexican Copper Canyon, our itinerary had us transferring by bus to the next destination. Eventually, it required that we cross a state border. I don’t recall ever having to pass inspection to cross from Indiana to Kentucky or any…

We’re going to see a tree? Really? Granted, it was the Yuletide season, but this one was not decorated for the holidays. At least not in the traditional sense. We journeyed a few miles southeast of Oaxaca, Mexico to where the town of Santa Maria del Tule is located. Approximately 8,000 people call that place home. At some point in its history, it was a marshy area complete with bulrushes. Hence…

Christmas in Mexico pretty much guarantees the holidays will not be snow-covered, but there is plenty of cheer to enjoyed nonetheless. This year we headed to the Southern part of the country — first Oaxaca, then Puebla, and finally Mexico City. The last time we were in Mexico over the holidays, we were spending time with friends in the Iglesia de los Amigos in Ciudad Victoria. I remember it well…

The drive-thru window opened as I pulled forward to pay for my order. The attendant locked eyes with mine and she said, “You know it makes me sad when you drive my truck while I’m at work.” I drive a GMC Sierra pick-up. It’s color is a candy apple red, named Crimson Red Tint coat. Even coated with winter grime due to recent snow and salt, it is an eye-catching vehicle. Ever since its purchase a…

In 1996 a little book entitled The Beatitudes of Christmas burst onto the literary scene. I’d like to tell you it revolutionized the holidays, was adopted by Oprah, and spent months on the NYTimes best seller list. Instead, it was welcomed by a smaller but appreciative audience as it considered the warmest, fuzziest of Christian seasons through the more challenging lens of the…

During a recent Sunday morning sermon, the speaker for the day was working hard to convince listeners that we are not alone in difficult times. As her momentum worked toward a crescendo, she reached for a little more Scriptural support for her position. “As it says in II Corinthians 12:9, God’s grace is significant for you.” Like a football extra point that nearly cleared the uprights but veered…

“To use rightly the time we still have is a sacred obligation.”[1] Those twelve words snagged a backrow seat in my mind and continue to heckle me every now and then. Some days I wonder if they are friend or foe, but suspect they “mean it for my good,” to borrow a favorite phrase from the Joseph stories in Genesis. The sentence comes from the final chapter of Elton Trueblood’s autobiography.…

A lazy cruise up the Hudson River included a visit to West Point, or the United States Military Academy, to be specific. Established in 1802, at least one reason for its selection was the strategic location it provided for defense of the area. It was mentioned several times during a recent re-watching of the mini-series North and South as young men aspired to go there, in part to make their own…

“Living out Quaker testimonies with my community has been my spiritual fantasy. This book turned fantasy into a dream. I can do this! To us who are not Quakers, Jay speaks masterfully, so much so that Quakers could look over his shoulder and learn about their treasures perhaps for the first time again. Jay is clear-eyed yet enchanting, reconnecting us with the divine in the muck and glory of…

I am happy to share that my new book, Spice Up Your Life: Reflections on the Testimonies is due to be released on August 12, 2025 by Barclay Press. Here is a sneak peek at the cover: Here is an example of the nice things others are saying about the book: “Thought-provoking, entertaining, and practical! In SPICE Up Your Life, Jay Marshall uses fun storytelling and insightful questions to…