From: Robert Gamble, D.Min. I am having heart surgery. My ascending aorta has enlarged to the limit and must be replaced. It's not a sudden crisis. I've known about this issue and have been monitoring it for years. But now it's time. On October 5th, I will have the operation done at the Gagnon Cardiovascular Institute in Morristown, NJ. It must be done as an "open heart procedure." Several people have told me that patients have a change of personality following "open heart"

“It was the best of times, it was the worst of times, it was the age of wisdom, it was the age of folly, it was the age of faith, it was the age of unbelief, it was the age of Light, it was the age of Darkness, it was the spring of hope, it was the winter of despair; we had everything before us, we had nothing before us.” — Charles Dickens, A Tale of Two Cities This is life in Ukraine. Tuesday, August 18th was the 4th anniversary of our Center for Creative Activities in Iz

A few weeks ago, NPR, carried a report on the geography of a child’s brain, a study done over a span of years, mapping the terrain within. They scanned the minds of kids from the hard-luck places and compared them to the kids from the safe, well-to-do neighborhoods. The data showed a difference. Not in raw intelligence, but in the weight of survival. Scans of the former showed physical exhaustion. Less sleep. More cortisol. A mind anxious about what waits ahead but also look

Daria is finishing her first year at the University of New Mexico. Classes, work at the cafeteria, singing for First Pres, singing and dancing for theater, winning competitions, and studying at night make for busy days. All freshman year, she rode buses. SHE NEEDS A CAR. If you have one to sell for $2500 or less or one to donate to our non-profit, This Child Here, please email me: robertgam@gmail.com Here's Daria's Report Card (more Report Cards for the year at the end of t

The above exhibition will stay in place until early June. We will be in the Washington DC area for almost three weeks March 27-April 15). If you would like to meet for breakfast, lunch, or dinner, sent me an email, and we can plan for it. In Atlanta also, we have 5 days. Send me an email if you would like to meet for food or coffee. Here is our schedule: March 6. 9am breakfast/coffee meeting at First Presbyterian, Ft Worth TX, (email if you would like to attend.) March

Our kitchen windows As I write this, I am gazing out at a set of three kitchen windows in our second floor apartment. My desk is nearly level with the window sill. It’s winter, not a leaf in sight. The branches of a gnarly tree 10 yards from our window are chaotic, limbs curling out of broken stubs, and wounds on the side of the trunk, like they belong to another species. These branches divide and divide into twigs, creating a web I see through in winter, while in the summer

( To GIVE CLICK HERE ) “It is a world of magic and mystery, of deep darkness and flickering starlight. It is a world where terrible things happen and wonderful things too. ...." ( see below Buechner's conclusion...) It's the end of the year; the time most people think about giving to nonprofits and charity. Ukraine is always on my mind. Every essay, news story, novel I read, every film I watch, lyric I listen to, speech I give, or sermon I rea

(Above, Drone attack at night, Daybreak and a ship on fire. Below that, anniversary roses on the kitchen window, in the distance, the ship on fire) ADVENT IN A TIME OF WAR The Church has a calendar; there are seasons. They begin with Advent, the four Sundays and weeks prior to Christmas morning. The word Advent means “coming” or “arrival,” and by implication: waiting. The calendar is liturgical; it presents the church, and, of course, the preacher, with a selection of Biblic

click to watc h Friends, On Sunday night of Nov 16th (our 1 year anniversary!), the city of Izmail, was hit by 27 drones. The above video (57 sec) records our experience. The answer to my question, "What's that noise?" is the resulting fire at the port aboard a ship filled with flammable gas. We see it burning from our kitchen window, at about 200 yards. It's now Tuesday and the port and our apartment still have no power. BBC NEWS TANKER ON FIRE In May, we applied for a