My Dear Friends, Yesterday was Valentine’s Day and I confess that once again I found it, as a “holiday”, annoying! There’s just something insincere, orchestrated,  and plastic to me about the cultural decree that on such and such a day Thou shalt declare your undying love with the purchase of cards, candy, and flowers (or [...]

My Dear Friends, I love taking surveys (not true). I love divulging personal information (not true). I love thinking seriously about where I’m succeeding and failing in my spiritual walk (not true). I love being asked to spend extra minutes on an assignment I hadn’t planned for (not true). Yet I’m doing each and every [...]

My Dear Friends, This week the angels have been instructed. Monday night baby Quinn Emilia Stubing was carried by said angels into Heaven. She was diagnosed with major medical issues in utero and was not supposed to survive even 24 hours after her birth. She did survive and for the past 5+ months, her parents [...]

My Dear Friends, I was genuinely saddened at the news last Sunday that Coach Joe Paterno had died. The man known as “JoePa” had roamed the Penn State sidelines for 46 seasons and took the Nittany Lions to 37 bowl games and two national championships and 409 total wins. I believe he was a very [...]

My Dear Friends, I love this season of Epiphany because it’s the time of year when Christians celebrate Jesus as the Light of the World. When Jesus is manifested to us in all His glory, we have an “epiphany”: the light goes on, and our darkness dissipates. As Peter the Galilean wrote, “But you are [...]

My Dear Friends, I’m a bona fide, card-carrying member of the Baby Boom Generation, Americans born between 1946 and 1960. In fact, I’m almost smack dab in the middle since I was born in 1955 so I have Boomer brothers and sisters behind me and ahead of me in nearly equal numbers. I’ve been enjoying [...]

As I type “2012” for the first time, I am, like many of you, thinking of this new year. I will set goals and make resolutions and set out once again to try and do some great things. I’m just wondering what those great things really are. Sure, I can throw in the old stand-by’s [...]

My Dear Friends, Well we’re into it now full bore for sure. The Christmas rush is upon us and it’s now a sprint for the finish! I don’t believe that’s good news for a lot of people, especially babies. The scurrying and stress and mall-crowd jostling must be overwhelming and bewildering for these little ones [...]

My Dear Friends, I added a new “channel” to my Pandora account called “Silent Night Radio” and since the first day of Advent  it’s been belting out one carol after another. I’m presently awash in noel’s, bleak mid-winter’s, manger’s, and roasting chestnuts. It’s a good way to get in the Christmas spirit, if not to [...]

My Dear Friends, It’s a bit counter-intuitive, but the deepest thanksgiving comes when times are hardest. Deprivation highlights what still remains, and loss reminds us of what is truly worth having. Thus we have the paradoxical inversion in which the richest and most well-off struggle to be thankful, while those who struggle and suffer are [...]