Prior to 1992, I’d never been to Vermont. To this mostly Midwestern guy, the small northeastern state might as well have been a foreign country, for all I knew of it, which was almost nothing. But in July of that year, I received and accepted the call to pastor First…
Several years ago our family went on a camping trip in the Adirondack Mountains in New York. We were novices at the whole outdoor adventure thing, so it was a bit overwhelming trying to decide which of the plethora of hikes to do near the campground where we were staying….
I recently had the opportunity to attend a ministry conference in Riverside, California—about 30 miles east of Los Angeles. I was warned that it would be hot and dry, and indeed it was for two of the three full days I was there. That didn’t deter me from taking my…
I have a theory about birthday celebrations. Just a theory, but based on very limited personal observations. It seems we go full circle in our attitude toward this annual milestone. I have a couple of preschool-aged grandsons, and if you mention “birthday party,” they get pretty excited—even more so if…
You probably have some of these items lying around, maybe stacked a few high in your garage. That’s where ours are. These old clay pots aren’t particularly attractive, are they? But they are functional. We’ve used them to get plants started for transplanting later. A larger one in our collection…
The 16-mile Hennepin Canal Trail begins about ten minutes from our home—well technically, it’s the Hennepin Canal Feeder Trail that connects to the actual Hennepin Canal Trail, which is basically a rail trail running about 100 miles from the Rock River in Moline to the Illinois River in Hennepin. Anyway, we…
We don’t watch very much TV in our household, but one program we enjoy watching occasionally is Aerial America that airs on the Smithsonian Channel. Each hour-long episode focuses on one state in America, such as Illinois, and gives a bird’s eye view of key places, landmarks, and geographical features…
How many times have you been walking along somewhere and semi-noticed a penny lying on the ground, only to keep on walking—after all, it really wasn’t worth stopping, stooping, and scooping up that little bit o’ copper? I’ve probably bypassed a dollar or so in my lifetime doing just that….
The Appalachian, the Pacific Crest, and the Continental Divide are the three great long-distance hikes in the United States. Each is over 2,000 miles long and takes the typical thru-hiker 5 months or more to traverse. An interesting feature of each is that somewhere along the trail, the hiker will…
As you walk in the door at AirPlay in downtown Sterling or at any Starbucks, your attention might be drawn to the bulletin board hanging near the entrance—a community bulletin board where people and organizations can post fliers or notices of just about any kind: a yoga class…a lost cat…a…
