God is spirit and the human body represents how He wanted to house our spirit. Walking up to the world’s most famous statue, David by Michelangelo, is a bit stunning as this seventeen-foot naked man is truly on full display. It’s easy to chuckle as females of every age are riveted by his perfection and their smart phones don’t stop clicking. However, as a male, I was every bit as impressed. PORTAL TO HEAVEN: Just as Michelangelo lifted David out of rock, God formed the flawle

Dwarfed by the magnificence of The Duomo of Florence, I am not so much humbled by this massive edifice as I am of two Texan ladies who asked us for directions. Fran and Tracy were lifetime friends who were making Italy a priority upon their retirement. After a few minutes of conversation, we found that they were committed Christians. Within minutes, I was asking her to pray for a loved one who is suffering. She assured me that she would. PORTAL TO HEAVEN: As time winds down t

Rainy long lines outside a church must spell passion among the faithful… Actually, we were tourists waiting to get into Venice’s famed San Marco cathedral. With estimates running between a not-a-typo 40 to 120 million individual mosaic tiles lining the edifice, it’s understandable that soggy shoes and a sniffly nose would be a small price to pay for such indescribable beauty. However, it is doubtful that there are long lines for a Sunday service outside churches on rainy days

Venezia from my airplane window didn't tell the whole story. “The map is not the territory” was the favorite expression of my semantics professor. No map, virtual reality, 3-D, neighbor’s 3-hour slide show or any other representation of Venice could ever do justice to the canals and streets of Venice. It’s the closest thing to time-travel backwards and yet it should be in everyone’s future. PORTAL TO HEAVEN: Even experts of The Book of Revelation’s description of heaven will

We treat the dark lightly. Spiritual “attacks” are often poo-pooed by those who don’t recognize they or someone else is under it. This is especially true around Halloween. I mentioned that there is hardly a more recognizable time to be attacked by the forces of the demonic than when either preparing for a vacation or while on one. And so it was that I woke up with the rawest of throats the day before flying to Italy. Vinegar and water rinses helped but then a phone call ca

Choosing Italy’s time and expense over being tied to the desk seems like a no-brainer…until one actually tries to bust loose and jump on the Rome-bound plane. Deadlines aren’t restricted to work. Tying up personal and professional loose ends before a “vaca”with that final-awful-what-am-I-forgetting feeling can sense as pressure-packed as a work project that’s due on the first of the month. When I was a kid, we’d have a birthday party or some family event. Over and over, I wou

What was I thinking when I booked a trip to Italy during upstate New York’s peak foliage season? All of my life, I’ve wanted to go to the birthplace of my grandparents and now I’m concerned I’ll be missing autumn’s colors. That’s a lot like life. Our choices take us in one direction and that obviously means we will be leaving something behind on any given day. PORTAL TO HEAVEN: Going God’s way usually means a surrender to where we’ve been whether temporarily or permanently. A

It was Paula’s birthday with John’s soon to follow and Lucille’s right behind that. Mom and Dad always made a big thing out of our birthdays and we’re still carrying on that tradition four decades since our folks blew out their last candles. The seven of us lead busy lives and we’re spread across the country. I’m always amazed that we still get together during these celebrations. Three things never gets older: The “Happy Birthday” song, the cake and... PORTAL TO HEAVEN: The b

Stopped by to have a chat with my parents. Their gravestone is placed below some pines in what seems to be the kinder part of the cemetery. The talk is short. I ask them, “Am I just like you at this stage in my life?” The whisper comes, “Yes” and “No.” We come from our parents but God desires that we go toward Him. I am satisfied with that answer. We love Mom and Dad, but we are not our parents. PORTAL TO HEAVEN: While always reflecting on and “visiting” the love of our paren

Went back to the old homestead. Pulled out the iPhone. Click, click. Rode by Jeff Stopper’s house and Pat Mannion’s place and the Millers. They were among the best of boyhood friends. Click, click. While these streets and homes now seem a bit distant, they are not for those who remained in our hometown. It’s a lot like life. God gives us things, places and people that seem to be mainstays. Some remain where they were as if to guard our formative years and memories. They’re no

It is no more… My boyhood Green Brook Swim Club was home to so many summer memories for this New Jersey native. It’s been bulldozed and logged for its trees. The parking lot still exists as if a metaphor for me. Even as I stare in disbelief, I have parked memories here. There are no more mosquito-zappers buzzing constantly at 9 p.m. just before the lifeguards politely reminded us that the pool was closing. What long, lazy days a kid can spend at a swim club. The grills are ab

I’m putting the pool to bed for the fall and winter and I notice that there is a quarter on the side of the pool. It’s the same one that nine year-old Grant dives for in the deep end. He’s become quite proficient at his idea of scuba diving. I usually go down half way and give him the thumbs up as he emerges with the twenty-five-cent piece and that victorious smile. I left the quarter there for weeks as an important reminder. If that had been the only activity throughout the

Summer's close and clothes went out on September 22. But we don’t need to shut the door on summer memories. For those who don’t like cooler weather but can’t afford a home in the Caribbean, it’s best to soak up The Son who gave us the treasures recorded on our smart phones. PORTAL TO HEAVEN: Determine to review! Take a look at some photos and ponder what should never come to a close in our hearts...and that goes for any season. #summersclose #portaltoheaven

Some mourn September’s surrender. They notice leaves in the pool, on the driveway and maybe even some deadheads in the flower boxes. But suddenly some lavender autumn crocuses appear and one can feel like it’s April again. This is not some tease by The Almighty. This is a bookend promise. PORTAL TO HEAVEN: One season, however long or short, leads to another and then back again. There will be a different “youth” or “Spring”… in your step. God made cycles to be completed. He fi

The lawn looked a kid with a mop of hair that hadn’t had a haircut in several month. September snuck up on me and produced a lavish growth such as I had never seen before. When I looked out the backyard, I was struck by the lushness of the trees and bushes as if September would never surrender to October. PORTAL TO HEAVEN: Summer “works” all summer to produce what we see by its last day. It’s the same with us. There are times when we mosey along and think nothing is getting d

September is the most popular month for weddings and the buzzer-beater for a Summer rite…I couldn’t miss an old 1949 Buick Dynaflow just waiting outside a charming New England church in Lee, Massachusetts for the bride and groom so that it could carry them off into married-land. Why are classic cars picked for weddings? Is it the metaphor that old means "lasting?" Is it that it may have been a car just like the one that ushered Mom and Dad into their forty-year-and-going-stro