Between my junior and senior year of high school, I went to Ghana as a foreign exchange student. I lived with a family for three months in a fairly remote part of the country. Every day we walked to get water for cooking, cleaning, and bathing. It was a bit of a hike and water […]
Friends have been asking how my new gig as a Chaplain Intern is going. I’m not sure there are enough adjectives – hard, interesting, holy, emotional, affirming – just to begin. My colleagues have also been very generous with their time, perspective, insight, and their care for me. It was probably better for me to […]
Went for a walk in the evening and as I turned for home, a long shadow was cast on the sidewalk ahead of me. The shadow walked on ahead of me. An eclipse of the moon or the sun is essentially a shadow. It creates dynamic colors and is intriguing to people. A couple years […]
My granddaughter discovered Fused Bead kits. They are little, colored, plastic cylinders that you place on peg boards. After your design is finished, you fuse them together with a hot iron. She knows I like baseball so created a baseball design for me that I use as a coaster. Other common patterns are hearts and […]
I had someone close to me say that they didn’t believe in God. My reaction was not surprise or disappointment or sadness. It was understanding. I understand why people don’t believe. Faith doesn’t make much sense. In addition, God has granted me the spiritual gift of doubt. I was a science teacher and have always […]
My work takes me to Nashville, two or three times a year. Near the hotel where I usually stay is a nice walking path. It surrounds a golf course, goes through a wooded area, and crosses a meandering creek. When it is nice out, there are a number of people out walking or biking on […]
Our weather hasn’t really decided which season it is in, so it’s giving us all four. All these daily changes made me think about the years that I delivered newspapers. The day started early and began by counting out the newspapers and loading the bags strapped across both shoulders. Even though it is many years […]
A number of years ago I began listening to sermons. Frankly, it began because of a pastor who was a poor preacher and I needed to get fed somewhere, so started looking for sermons. Many churches now post audio and/or video sermons and it’s interesting to hear different styles and perspectives. On a recent business […]
God has granted me the spiritual gift of doubt. Closely followed by the spiritual gifts of suspicion and disbelief. These gifts served me well as a science teacher, a school principal, and a parent, but not as well as a Christian. I’ve always wanted to know how things work and the details behind the details. […]
I was too young to remember all the details, but dad invited an atheist to speak at the church. Pretty gutsy move as this was in a small town in the Dakotas in the late 1960’s. It attracted newspaper coverage and pretty sure it attracted some harsh criticism. Again, I don’t know remember many specifics but […]