This morning, as my feet hit life’s floor, I was reminded again that some of the things in my body that used to work well don’t work like they did when I was younger. My joints seem sore and stiff a lot of the time, these days. I’ve got arthritis in my hands, my…
If you ever get to come to my house to visit, over near the front door, in the living room, there’s a little stub wall that helps enclose our wood stove. And on that little wall, there are some incredibly important lines, carefully drawn over the past few years. The lines aren’t long. Barely…
Communicating through protective masks is something our culture is trying to get used to. I don’t know about you, but I have a terrible time being understood through a face mask. Whether I’m sitting in my car at the local Starbucks drive-through, or trying to exchange greetings with someone in the grocery aisle, somehow, my…
My wife and I just returned from a trip to the Midwest for a Memorial Service for a family member. Every airport along our journey shared one specific and common site: a control tower. Every airport had one of those tall, concrete obelisk-looking towers that rises several stories above runways. Men and women sit in…
Much of the time, I think, people define themselves by what they do for a living. In that regard, I will tell you that I am, both by training and calling, a pastor. But, I’m also a professional life development coach for physicians. That’s what I do. But that’s not how I would actually answer…
I recently made a trip back to Granite City, Illinois, the town where I grew up. Because I’m a minister, when one of the nieces or nephews has a wedding, it’s not unusual for me to be asked to perform the ceremony. And a couple of weeks ago, I did just that. One of the…
It took him ten years. You may not have read up on it lately, but it took Albert Einstein ten years of work to arrive at his Theory of General Relativity. Ten long years of ciphering numbers, and staring at equations, staring off into the universe he studied and was trying understand. I’ve seen pictures…
Recently, my wife and I celebrated our 52nd wedding anniversary. Over the years, we’ve raised three sons and enjoyed an active ministry together. By training, my wife is a teacher who earned a Masters Degree in Special Education. And for many of the early years in our marriage, she taught students. But no matter whether…
What is it, do you suppose, about ‘normal’ life that is so perplexing? Somehow, most of us have a deep need or desire for understanding what ‘normal life’ is supposed to look like. I don’t know about you, but I have been known to wonder, at times, if I’m normal? Wonder if it’s okay…
Each evening, before bedtime, my wife and I sit in our living room across from each other, and we take turns reading aloud the Word of God. Our goal is to complete the entire bible by year’s end, and we are well over half way through our commitment. A few days ago, we finished the…