Sounds of Hope

I’ve cooked a lot of rice in my life, probably 100s if not 1000s of pounds of it.  That’s a lot of rice.  My mother rarely cooked rice.  She relied heavily on Minute Rice when I was kid.  I’ve used the stuff but it just doesn’t compare to good cooked rice.  It wasn't my mother who taught me to cook rice.  It was a friend I met by chance many years ago. Last weekend our son called me and asked how to fix rice.  He bought a five pound bag of Basmati rice after obtaining instructions on rice cooking and recommendations on kinds of rice from me.  I understand he has cooked six or seven batches since I told him how to cook it.  I love it when my kids call me and when they seek my knowledge, that’s even better.   But this blog isn’t about my kids, it’s about rice.  Well, sort of… My older children, who lived through the days of poverty, food stamps, and trailer living, will tell you that they loved it when I fixed a rice dish...

If you were ever in Girl Scouts or a similar type of group, you may know this song. Make new friends but keep the old One is silver and the other gold I wasn’t in Girl Scouts but I learned this song in Sunbeams at my local Salvation Army Corp.   I thought it was a cute song.   I wondered which one was silver and which one was gold.   It seemed the new friend was silver and the old gold but I’d still wonder about it.   I was sort of a weird kid like that. I’ve been thinking about friends a lot lately.   People talk about Facebook friends and how many people have.   They say these folks aren’t really friends.   I’ve gotten so caught up in this discussion I’m working on a dissertation on Facebook, community and Christian development.   I do think about this stuff a lot. Last week in preparation for a two day journey south, I thought about who I should visit with in Columbia Missouri.   Columbia Missouri is home.   It’s not home in the s...