It’s dinnertime. My young children are old enough now that I can actually sit down for most of a meal. This is good. This is fun. Our table time is comparable to a dinner party. Given the number of kids I have, there are often two conversations...

      No one wants to get the call that their loved one has been arrested. This news is in a category far, far from bad news. And here we are. Jesus’ cousin John gets arrested. This fact opens the Gospel reading for this past Sunday, January 22nd. No...

I didn’t see it coming. We were approaching the middle of November. Our Christian Education director was talking about the upcoming Christmas pageant. Her thought never occurred to me. “I think your foster son should play baby Jesus.” A slight pause followed. “I mean he’s not a newborn,” she added...

  You’re sailing along on a good day. Coffee’s good. The donut is even better. The weather is decent. You’re in no rush. Oh, yes, it’s good. And then there’s that headline. That bit of news. We are too familiar with headlines that make our hearts hurt. I won’t list...

Concern popped into my head immediately because the buck was down. Hunting season, I thought. He’s hurt. After a moment of eye contact with me, he slowly came to his feet. He was not injured. Our eyes remained locked. He stood on the wooded path I was taking. I kept...

  A Christian radio station announced an upcoming event by saying that Christmas is the happiest season of all. With those holiday greetings and gay happy meetings when friends come to call, is Christmas the hap-happiest season of all? Holiday greetings and gay happy meetings don’t always happen. In fact,...

    We inch along from time to time, but have been essentially motionless on the interstate for about 30-minutes. With my mom, I am in the middle of three lanes. To save not just gas but the air around us, I turn the car off. To our left, in...

  Parker potshots the sermon. Oh, it’s easy to do, especially for Parker. Why? Um, hello? It’s obvious. The preacher is on himself. He masks himself in what first sounds like humility but the undercurrent is easy to catch. He’s selling himself. Specifically, he’s selling himself as a good guy....

  We are coming off a wonderfully mild October that you did notice. “Ah,” we sigh, especially as we remember this past weekend. Here at the start of November 2022, lawn mowers and lawn rakes are about to be put away. (Or they should be put away soon?) Green Thumb...

It’s not what you get, it’s what you give They scurry up your sidewalk carrying excitement along with their orange with black plastic pumpkins laden with candy or other safe sweets from the homes of your neighbors. “Here comes the next batch,” you say to yourself as you stand ready...