Author Archives: Bill Paine

A Bloody Nose

Posted on 21 February 2011 by Bill Paine

Thank you to everyone who contacted me concerned about my mother.  To reassure everyone that she’s fine, here’s a brief recap of the Bloody Nose Incident… Two weeks ago, Mom went out to lunch with her friend Sally, and midway … Continue reading →

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I was here…

Posted on 1 February 2011 by Bill Paine

Most of the pictures I have of USS Moinester, the ship in which I served most of my active duty navy time, are undated, so I usually don’t know for sure if I was actually on board at the time … Continue reading →

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Welcome

Posted on 28 January 2011 by Bill Paine

Thank you for visiting my new-and-improved web site.  Why the change?  I like the blog format.  I have all the same static pages as my old site, but now I have an easy way to give you, my friends and … Continue reading →

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Resentment

Posted on 12 February 2010 by Bill Paine

John’s gospel is the most difficult for me to wrap my head around.  Its structure and tone are quite different from the other three gospels—more abstract, more spiritual/philosophical, less dependent on narrative storytelling.  There is also a deep undercurrent of … Continue reading →

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Brother Sun

Posted on 4 October 2009 by Bill Paine

Today is the Feast of St. Francis of Assisi, founder of the Franciscan spiritual movement.  Francis is best known as the “patron saint of animals,” and many churches have special services today to bless pets and other creatures.  Francis is … Continue reading →

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Perfectly Unexpected

Posted on 23 September 2009 by Bill Paine

Note:  I have begun using Zemanta to add useful links and pictures to my entries.  Most of the non-citation links take you to relevant Wikipedia articles; I strongly caution that Wikipedia is often not reliable factually, but can serve as … Continue reading →

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Eight Years Later

Posted on 11 September 2009 by Bill Paine

9/11 is still raw.  I sometimes find it difficult to realize that the awful day was eight years ago, so immediate are the emotions and memories I have.  To have been a New Yorker on September 11th, 2001, is to … Continue reading →

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Humility

Posted on 16 July 2009 by Bill Paine

Being humble is greatly misunderstood. On the one hand, humility can feel like false modesty, a passive-aggressive means of self-promotion which attracts attention through acting like I don’t want it. On the other, humility can feel like weakness, a defensive … Continue reading →

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Trusting in God

Posted on 16 June 2009 by Bill Paine

First, my apologies for neglecting this blog for so long. I chose to be lazy and not be disciplined or focused enough to put my thoughts into words; this is a long-standing shadow of mine, that I self-sabotage to justify … Continue reading →

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Physical and Spiritual

Posted on 31 March 2009 by Bill Paine

Today the Episcopal Church celebrates John Donne, Priest, Poet and Preacher (1573-1631). Image via Wikipedia Donne is a fascinating character whose poetry, to the modern reader, occupies a disturbingly ambiguous middle ground between the erotic and the spiritual, between eros … Continue reading →

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