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Short History

So, three years ago I was diagnosed with prostate cancer and a melanoma, a very aggressive skin cancer. Treated with radiation and arm surgery, it appeared I was in remission. A annual x-ray, however, revealed a nodule on my lung.

What’s a nodule?” I asked the doctor. 

“Well,” he responded coolly, “we aren’t sure. But it wasn’t there a year ago, and that’s a concern.

And MRI and…

Tess, Rebel Without a Cause

My dog Tess is the reincarnation of James Dean’s role in Rebel Without a Cause. She doesn’t need a reason to act out, she just does. 

For example, she knows that she’s not allowed on the couch. Yet there are days when she meander’s into the sunroom, stops at the edge of the brightly colored floral pattern and looks over her shoulder at me as I sit across from her in a chair. Then, without any…

Angie Azzanni first saw Kenny James languishing on a bench in the housing project where she worked as a community advocate. “He was just another eleven-year-old African American kid on his way to prison,” says Angie. “Just hanging out, surrounded by fellow gang members and watching the older guys sell drugs. The outcome was predictable”

But Angie noticed something unusual. In a chaotic world of…

Willems fled across a frozen lake, pursued by a prison guard. Half-starved by prison rations, Willems crossed the lake safely. But the guard fell through the ice into the freezing water.

Willems immediately turned back and…

Corey – Pt.1

The doctor hung the x-ray against the lighted screen and stepped to the side. Extending his hand, he pointed to the location that revealed the brainstem. “See this, Linda,” he said, “where that dark mass is. That’s the tumor. It’s intertwined between the brain and spine. That makes it inoperable.”I sat very still in the chair. The office, decorated in dark paneled wood, was lined with shelves of…

Dan, a Story of Hope (2)

You might think that my whole life would change completely from a supernatural experience like seeing a light in a jail cell, but it didn’t. It made a difference, but it was just a start.

For instance, I was living in a dorm, and a new guy tried to establish himself as the alpha male in our living quarters by tossing my clothing on the floor. When I confronted him, he said, “Yeah, I did it. What…

Danny, a Story of Hope

Dan Fite was three when his father died. Drunk and afraid to face his wife, he pulled his truck over and fell asleep while smoking.

That’s when is mother began drinking. In a year, she became a falling-down, sloppy drunk who eventually had six kids. But Dan always loved his mother. “She was a good person, but she couldn’t stop.”

The worst times were when they’d just leave us, he says. It was not…

A True Easter Story

It was one of the most difficult parts of being a doctor, telling someone they were going to die.

Dr. Phryne’s patient sat on the other side of his desk in his well-appointed office. “The x-rays,” he began, “show a large dark mass on your right lung. Further tests confirmed that it was a malignant tumor. The worst of it is that the cancer has metastasized. 

He had been in the medical profession…

Likeable People Do …

Here are several traits that likeable people share. Cultivate them and you are more likely to spend time with others who will enjoy being around you.

1. They Aren’t Insecure

Likeable people don’t come from a place of insecurity. They go into every interaction thinking “I bet me and this other person would get along great, I should really get to know them better.” And then the likeable person…

For some time now I’ve been waiting to share a success story. There’ss a great deal of tension in our country between the haves and the have-nots. Stereotypical perceptions about such things as food stamps, public housing, people who don’t work, and so forth. But I wanted to know more, to dig beneath the topsoil and find out what it’s like to live on welfare. So it is a pleasure to tell the…