This Spiritual Autobiography was shared with Honolulu Friends Meeting in December 2020. Meaning and Direction I was around thirteen years old when I read a simple explanation of the Christian Faith and signed the page in the little booklet. It instructed me to tell someone…

https://docs.westernfriend.org/index.php/s/JRJq3LALELFLiSy#pdfviewer See pages 6 to 8 for my first publication as a Quaker!

How you once helped a friend who hoarded by hiring a saint to clean out her apartment and begin her life over again. How you overcame your fears and took up open water swimming. How you graduated from Sears Charm School because your mother wanted…

If you come to the windward side of O’ahu, you are welcome to visit “Akua’s sanctuary” there. (Akua is Hawaiian for God). Today, the weather is rainy and windy. However, you can still see the waterfalls flowing down the 2000′ cliffs of the forest-covered Ko’olau…

In the movie “Chariots of Fire,” an outstanding British runner becomes an Olympian. He explains the connection between his faith and his running, “When I run, I feel His (God’s) pleasure.”   I can relate to this experience. As a lifelong athlete, I have played…

As we gather this Thanksgiving at the table, I am acutely aware of the relatives who will not be there and whom we cannot phone anymore. My throat tightens up and my eyes water. Absence is like a silent presence in the room, when I…

In September, an old friend had an emergency surgery, which was quite major. Her primary doctor told her to expect to be back to normal sometime in December. She is slowly healing and eager to be back to her routine life. When I was healing…

Retreat Centers are always in beautiful places. Serra Retreat Center is on the top of a mountain in Malibu overlooking the ocean and looking down on the mansions of the rich and famous, like Mel Gibson and Dick VanDyke. I think that Serra was a…

A man in his twenties was headed home on foot from a friend’s house one night in San Francisco. He had walked home this way many times before, never having any trouble. However this time, he was attacked by thieves, who stabbed him repeatedly, took…

On our tenth wedding anniversary Let us vow to encourage all virtues in each other For we are each perfect as we are And we could use a little improvement. We are each broken And we are whole. May we serve each other For all…