I am Skeptical On my way home from work, I take the Q train from Brooklyn into Manhattan.   A woman gets on the train wearing a white blouse, denim jacket and jeans.   This woman says in a loud voice, “I’m hungry.   I don’t’ have a job and I’m three months pregnant.   Can someone please help me?”   A few months later, wearing a pink blouse, the same woman gets on the train and says in a loud voice, “I’m hungry.   I don’t’ have a job and I’m three months pregnant.   Can someone please help me?”   I notice that her stomach looks flat and still she claims she is three months pregnant.   Yes, I am skeptical. This woman is only one of three that I usually see on the train ride home.   The other two are men; one will be in a wheel chair saying “I live in a shelter.   Any spare change, even a penny will help so I can pay for my bed tonight.”   I notice that he is able to get around using his legs and feet to “walk the chair”...

Walking Sticks I love walking sticks; especially those that are uniquely made.   I made my first walking stick in the late 1970’s out of a used mop I had.   I took the mop off, cut down the handle to size and used black bicycle handlebar tape to wrap around the mop stick.   I attached a bicycle handle grip to the top and a rubber tip for chair legs on the bottom; a nice walking stick, which today is a bit shorter than I am.   I used to show this stick to my dog, LeRay as reminder to “behave.”   I still have this walking stick. Just last week, I presented to a good friend John, my Ahijado (God Son) a walking stick which he requested I get for him during my “antique” browsing days with my Aunt.   John loves to go hiking but never had a walking stick to call his own.   John’s walking stick would make the second one purchased for someone other than myself during my antique browsing.   The other walking stick was purchased for my former s...

Faith is Required Among the four Gospel’s of the New Testament, the Gospel of Luke is my favorite.   Although we call the Book of Luke a Gospel, it’s actually an account, a report written that validates what was heard by one named Theophilus.   The Acts of the Apostles, which continues where the Book of Luke ends is also written to Theophilus.   Biblical scholars do not actually know the identity of Theophilus but the name means, “friend of God.”   I am more readily inclined to accept that Luke’s writings were written to believers as a collective identifying them as Theophilus, “friends of God” (John 15:15; James 2:23).   Luke was not an Apostle but a physician who traveled with the Apostle Paul when he met him in Troas (Acts 16:6-12).   For me, Luke’s Gospel is “A Social Workers’ Gospel” because of stories highlighting people with whom many did not associate.   Every time I read the Gospel of Luke; I am reminded of my own experi...