Author Archives: Mark Ekstrom

I knew the day would come eventually. This past Saturday my wife woke me with the news that Sean Connery was dead.  As a male growing up in the 1960’s, Connery was a huge presence in my childhood.  For years I idolized him. It all started in 1964 when my sister Karen took me toContinue reading “Feet of Clay”

I’ve never admitted this to anyone, but I have a problem with ghosts. To begin with, I don’t like to be startled.  Knowing this, my wife likes nothing better than to jump out of some hiding place and scare me.  It’s no wonder that I’m always on full alert.  Ghosts are by nature a startlingContinue reading “Living in a Thin Time”

34Jesus answered them, “Very truly, I tell you, everyone who commits sin is a slave to sin. 35The slave does not have a permanent place in the household; the son has a place there forever. 36So if the Son makes you free, you will be free indeed.      John 8:31-36 My favorite word in the English language is ‘independence.’ Continue reading “Independence Day”

Thus says the Lord…I form light and create darkness.      Isaiah 45:7 What do you dread? Snakes?  Heights?  Public speaking?  Election season? Personally, I’m dreading Halloween.  Not because of the pandemic, not because of the little spooks, but because this year the end of Daylight Savings Time coincides with Halloween.  The end of Daylight Savings used toContinue reading “The Treasures of Darkness”

I hope and pray that you are all well. Yesterday was World Communion Sunday.  I’m thankful that my wife Jody and I were fortunate enough to be able to celebrate this special day in church when so many are still unable to worship together. World Communion Sunday was established in 1933 by an American ministerContinue reading “Perspective”

“Everything is relative.”  Einstein 1905 “Nothing is definitive.”  Ekstrom 2018 “With the Lord a day is like a thousand years, and a thousand years are like a day.”  2 Peter Time has slowed. I just realized, as we move into autumn, that the summer seemed to last a really long time.  This usually isn’t the case,Continue reading “Moment to Moment”

“Better to remain silent and be thought a fool than to speak and to remove all doubt.” Better Things How is everyone doing? It’s been a tough year so far and it shows no sign of getting any less difficult.  Many people are hurting and I know we will be dealing with the fallout of the pandemicContinue reading “Better Things”

One of my favorite bands is the punk/new wave group Talking Heads.  Their angular, ironic, quirky music doesn’t appeal to everyone, but I have always felt an affinity with them.  Perhaps it’s because their lead singer was diagnosed later in life with Asperger’s Syndrome (like me).  For whatever reason, their music speaks to me, especiallyContinue reading “The Good Thing”

“Instructions for living a life.Pay attention.Be astonished.Tell about it.” Mary Oliver, poet A famous (now infamous) comedian once joked that 80% of life is showing up. There’s more than a little truth in that.  Showing up, being physically present, is all that is required of us much of the time.  Unfortunately, I haven’t even beenContinue reading “Showing Up”

This blog post is late for one very good reason:  I didn’t like my original post.  It was just kind of…meh.  So, I threw it out.  The only thing I’ve kept from it is the photograph above.  No, that dashing gentleman isn’t me.  He is the famed fencer Luigi Barbasetti who wrote the classic book TheContinue reading “Impossibilities”