Breathe in, my friend

by chuckofish

I was very productive and ran a lot of errands yesterday. I voted early!

July 11, 2026 was the 100th birthday of Frederick Buechner, who has been very important to me over the long years of my spiritual journey. I actually met him back in the day when he preached at Christ Church Cathedral some time in the 1990s. I shook his hand. He meant a lot to me and I was not alone in that. Here are reflections on the following prompt: “What Buechner means to me” from the Buechner Review.

I have long wondered how anyone could not believe in a creator-God when one looked at birds–their incredible beauty and detail and diversity. This is a good read about ornitheology. “My point: Lessons are everywhere. When God filled the skies on day five (Gen. 1:20–22), he didn’t just make a bird, call it “bird,” and be done with it. He made at least 11,000 different bird species. Doesn’t it seem like he wanted us to notice?”

And here’s a great Billy Strings cover of one of my favorite Bob Dylan songs:

And every one of them words rang true
And glowed like burning coal
Pouring off of every page
Like it was written in my soul
From me to you
Tangled up in blue