On the Journey
By Rick Hamlin

October 2009

When Times Are Hard
October 26, 2009
“Remember how bad things were last year?” I heard myself saying.
I was giving a two-minute stewardship address at my church, and worried once again how we were ever going to make our budget this year. There were still too many folks in the congregation out of work and even more whose jobs seemed to be threatened. How could they dig into their pockets at such an insecure time?
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Happy Birthday, Mom!
October 19, 2009
Today’s Mom’s birthday. No, I won’t tell you how old she is. She doesn’t want any of her tennis girls to know how old because she’s afraid they’ll hit the ball back too soft.
But that she plays tennis twice a week is pretty impressive. It’s one of those things her four kids love about her. She loves a good game and she never gives up. (A little Celebrex helps the arthritis.)
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Phone Home
October 12, 2009
Sunday night Carol and I were putting the final touches on dinner—celery root soup and a beet salad—when the phone rang. Tim calling from college.

“How’s it going?” I asked, conveying his answers as Carol set the table and sprinkled cheese on the salad. Midterms were coming up, music theory was really hard, Japanese history was interesting. I was about to ask him about rehearsals for Richard II when I heard a beep on the line.
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Can You Tie a Bow Tie?
October 6, 2009

Why are bow ties so impossible to tie? I wear one once or twice a year and each time I find myself stymied.
I used to know how to do it. Back in high school I was once in a show where I had to tie a bow tie backstage between scenes in 60 seconds. No problem. I could even do it without a mirror. Not now.
The other day I was tying my bow tie at the office—or rather, trying to tie it. I stared at my reflection in the window, making the loop and then working on the rabbit ears (as we used to call them), hoping for something cheerful and spiffy.
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Rick Hamlin is the executive editor of Guideposts magazine. His regular prayer habit is a psalm a day and some meditation on his commute to work, which happens to be a New York subway train.