[Lawrence Dietz]

Was Jesus being literal? If by “bread” and “fish” he meant showing unconditional love and understanding to our children, was he was pointing to those places of goodness in our soul which we sometimes cannot access, or we ignore, for whatever reason?

[Lawrence Dietz]

My prayers are almost always that we use the power of goodness in each of us, the power we call God, to do what we know from the Bible is God’s good work, to the best of each of our physical and mental abilities.

[Lawrence Dietz]

“A story is worth a thousand definitions,” true, but the inner emotional and even physical feeling when you are filled with love, love for and from God/goodness, love for/from another person, that’s worth a thousand stories.

[Lawrence Dietz]

I have listened to Dvorak’s 9th “From the New World” Symphony, letting the Second Movement soothe me, and I have been particularly interactive with others in a positive way — cooking lunch for the woman who hadn’t eaten in 24 hours after falling while visiting a cemetary, and making sure her Bible was in reach. This is as fraught an election as I have ever seen, and my first politial memory is election night, 1944 (I was small, but paying attention). May today’s winners not seek revenge on or feel disdain toward the losers, and may the losers accept the judgment of voters with humility, not anger. The Bible verses you’ve chosen, Jim, are a salve on our self-inflicted, short-sighted, misery.

[Lawrence Dietz]

The US Patent & Trademark Office shows 6,608 results for “Bridges.” Of those, 4,403 are “dead or abandoned.” The remaining 2,265 registered or pending include a huge number in which “Bridges” is only one part of the organizational name (Highstreet Bridges, an IT management company; Bridges Together, educational services; and on and on).

We are in the second row of the two-by-two listing, under a pair of organizations which are “dead or abandoned,” and out listing shows our current graphic and name in B&W. (Others have color.)

Perhaps lawyers have advised otherwise.

The fact that the Bridges on the logo, with its graphics, doesn’t exactly match the corporate name doesn’t seem to me to be an obstacle.

If you’re saying that the graphics could use an update, absolutely well and absolutely good, but I’m not sure we want to solicit ideas from Pakistan, where there are only some 900+ suspension bridges to inspire a designer [insert smiling emoji here]. The U.S. has 1,445 suspension bridges, out of a total of over 600,000 lesser bridges. How many bridges are there to God?

[Lawrence Dietz]

As I was reading what you wrote, a motorcycle roared down my street, its muffler modified to make a huge amount of noise, over which the rider was blasting music. Listening to God? Humans continue to be remarkably expert at finding ways to fill up our lives with “stuff.” Check e-mail, check text messages, look at and respond to a bunch of social media feeds. Music, news, all kinds of distractions. Bridge Leaders work to bring a purposeful focus on God/goodness to others, while surrounded by the maelstrom of “regular” daily life. It is a profoundly rewarding, profoundly humbling experience.

[Lawrence Dietz]

For those of us who have not gotten to a movie theater, “White Bird” is based on a book by R.J. Palacio, surely available at your public library, as it was at mine. The book tells the story in 204 pages of four-color cartoons with captions, followed by a glossary of terms. Yes, the question of what each of us will do for those around us is the what BridgesUS, through Bridge Leaders, answers every day.

[Lawrence Dietz]

The Yellowbox creation is absolutely clever. I only wish that I believe BridgesUS is or could be a famous, or easily identifiable, “brand,” like Coca-Cola. And if all BridgesUS did was enable Leaders to tend to the immediate physical needs of people, BridgesUS would aleady be identifiable — think Red Cross. But when we factor in God, and people’s acute spiritual needs, then the waters are far deeper. I’m working hard to swim in those waters with you, Jim, and others in the BridgesUS community.

[Lawrence Dietz]

I’m lost. If those with whom we work don’t know who we really are, that seems to me a built-in lack of trust. It’s beyond sad that we live in a world where technology available through our computers and phones allow and may even encourage harassment, and a world where that technology almost encourages many to have short fuses over anything perceived as a slight, much less a real insult.

[Lawrence Dietz]

I met Jim Milley at a rehab center where we were both broken — his bones, my spirit. When we were both rejuvenated enough to leave, I went to an independent living facility and found its 12 residents in need, spiritually and day-to-day. I have engaged in moral discussions with men who have spent 20 and 30 years in prison, and women who have borne terrible tragedies…while helping them with basics, such as accompanying them to Social Security and the DMV, where I am “better” dealing with bureaucrats.