In my four-plus decades of ministry, I haven’t had many opportunities to go on missions trips. My first experience, 22 years ago, took my wife and me on a two-week visit to Singapore and Malaysia. I had the opportunity to speak about 20 times to families and young people at…
Winter in our neck of the woods has been relatively mild thus far. In fact, I think Destin, Florida, has received more snow this year than we have! Nevertheless, the day we took our annual winter break to Lake Geneva wasn’t so mild. For this time of year, the temperatures…
In a pastors’ Facebook group, one colleague posed an intriguing question, “When do you take your day off?” Now, to most that wouldn’t hold much interest. Days off are typically dictated by one’s employer in the hiring process (or in weekly scheduling), and the employee doesn’t think much about it….
In 1985, I attended a pastoral staff meeting that included the church’s music director. He was also responsible for the church’s small bookstore, which included several music LPs. For those under age 40, an LP is a vinyl record—used to be the only format for developing a music library, and…
In the spring and summer of 1984, I was in a pretty low place in many ways. The previous April took me in the opposite direction. The small church in western Illinois (I referred to in last week’s article) had called me to be their pastor, and I dove in…
Somehow, in early elementary school I developed an interest in science. As I tried to recall how that interest was stoked, I initially thought it must have been the space program. Those of us who grew up in the ‘60s probably recall the “space race.” The United States and the…
As a somewhat casual Minnesota Vikings fan, I should have watched the entire recent NFC Wild Card playoff game between the Vikings and the New Orleans Saints. If I were a die-hard fan, I would have. But, I figured the Saints would get revenge on the game a couple years…
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…
