“So,” you ask, “what is Grace Unscripted?”

(more on Fridays with Froehlichs in a moment)

It’s a new beginning, a new chapter of the great adventure.

It’s Humpty Dumpty back together again after the great fall (COVID, cancer). In spite of what the nursery rhymes tell you, “all the King’s horses and all the King’s men” did it.

It’s Jake & Elwood getting the band back together “on a mission from God.” And, yes, we are gonna make a run to Chicago.


Grace: Our story rolls on as it has from the beginning. Everything has always been about the Lord’s sustaining grace.

Everything comes from him;
Everything happens through him;
Everything ends up in him.
Always glory! Always praise!
Romans  11:36
Eugene Peterson, The Message

Unscripted: We have long known where the story ends. Yet our life is not the one we would have written or predicted, even though at times we tried. But the getting-there continues to be a mixture of staying present and living futurally (see How to Inhabit Time by James KA Smith or excerpts in a website Book Note)

Be still, my soul; thy God doth undertake
to guide the future as He has the past.
Thy hope, thy confidence let nothing shake;
all now mysterious shall be bright at last.
“Be Still My Soul,” Kathrina von Schlegel

A year ago New Life Presbyterian Church fêted us with a farewell party. An extraordinary joy of that gathering was the presence of so many NLPC alums who returned to mark the event with us. One of the “toasts” was especially moving. Another humbling highlight was having so many colleagues, pastors and church leaders, pray for us and bless us.  Steve’s tenure at NLPC officially concluded at the end of 2022.

Two years ago we emerged from our journey in the land of cancer that culminated with 6 months of chemo therapy. Steve is NED, but we are gradually adjusting to the new normal.

What is the new normal?

Composting. Steve repurposed some pallets to make a compost bin so we can make dirt for…

Flowers.  Sheryl has been dividing and transplanting iris, snow drops, crocus, narcissus, and daffodils to the front beds -- about 200 bulbs in all.  This year she introduced hyacinth, three varieties of allium, and squill.  And…

Trees. We have planted dogwoods, oaks, maples, willows (along the creek), redbuds, and a hybrid dappled willow, all saplings which means we have to be patient to see the full effect.

Speaking & Travel.  Steve has stayed busy preaching for local pastoral colleagues and beyond (see the Speaking & Travel posts on the website). However, thanks to some gracious gifts we’ve been able to begin visiting NLPC alums who are scattered all over the world. So far this year we’ve reunited with alums in Philadelphia, Baltimore, Phoenix, Albuquerque, Columbus, Ann Arbor, and Prince Edward Island (where Sheryl got to scratch her Ann of Green Gables itch and I got to sample lobster rolls). These visits are part of a Holy Callings project that you can read about on the website.

Family & Friends.

Last week we had to make a mad dash over to OH, a 9-hour drive in the rain, to care for Sheryl’s 88-year old mom, Naomi. She had fallen again, this time fracturing her pelvis. We were able to relocate her from the hospital to rehab, and Sheryl and her sister, Lynne, got the ball rolling for her transition to a truly lovely assisted living residence. Care for mom is complicated by the short-term mental slippage that marks the encroachment of dementia. That development has prompted us to organize a Thanksgiving family gathering in OH while she is still able to enjoy her grands and great-grands. Naomi is our last surviving parent. When she is gone, there will be no one alive in our family who has preceded us.

Christopher has sarcoidosis almost certainly due to his exposure to the burn pits during military service in Iraq. He is now on full Medicare disability. However, he and Teresa are homesteading (sort of). They have chickens, turkeys, rabbits, sheep, goats, and a pig, Rosie.  Eli, Nadia, Elijah, Teddy, and Kellan are all learning the skills of husbandry.

Jonathan and Liz have set a date to marry next year. Liz’s son, Ollie started college this year, and Hayden will join the college ranks in the fall. Jonathan now serves as Associate Director of Alumni Engagement for Cornell’s College of Engineering.

Timothy continues his work as a senior engineer for a healthcare supply and clinical services company in NYC.

In addition to working as a teacher's aide at an Ithaca elementary school, Katia is homeschooling Dimitri.

Gregg, (below) a dear friend from college, died this week. We clung to Gregg and Kathy as a haven of immense joy amid a season of devastating loss, shame, and sorrow.  Then, we tried to return the favor when they endured their own crucible. Our laughter always broke the stranglehold of despair – we could breathe, and we dared to hope.

As we launch Grace Unscripted we imagine you alongside us, keeping company with friends whose presence draws us into the best of life in the present even while we remember that the worst is not all there is. As we mingle our lives, we share the hope that “everything sad will come untrue” (JRR Tolkien, Lord of the Rings).

Grace Unscripted is an open door to conversation as together we are a part of the one great story.  Please take a moment to browse the website (it's still a work in progress). We can stay connected there.  Or, better yet, we would love to host you here, creekside in the hollow.

Fridays with Froehlichs will come to you on those Fridays (or Saturdays, or Wednesdays) when we have organized some thoughts, images, art, and ideas that we believe you will find interesting and timely. Some of what we share will be original writing, but some will be the curated ideas and creativity of other voices.

Fall can be a time of extraordinary beauty, but the leaf-covered paths will soon be blanketed in snow. The snow will melt making way for new leaves and the brilliance of spring blossoms.  Time rolls on, but there’s still a lot of stuff we look forward to doing in this new season of serving, exploring, and growing. We keep discovering new trails that need to be cycled, hopefully with friends. Concerts, meals, hospitality, conversation, gardening, writing, listening, and learning with family and loved ones all promise to enrich this new beginning. But what will we do?

It may be that when we no longer know what to do
we have come to our real work,
and that when we no longer know which way to go
we have come to our real journey.
The mind that is not baffled is not employed.
The impeded stream is the one that sings.
Wendell Berry

Come, sing with us.

Our hearty thanks to
Greg Wilson
for all his generous creative and technical help in getting
Grace Unscripted launched. We're immensely grateful.