14 Sep umbrella love
This past week was a difficult one, as my family laid my 95-year-old mother to rest. I was blessed to be able to give a “memorial talk” about Mom at her funeral mass, and I shared with the audience who she was in Christ. I...
09 Sep Restful Surrender
Surrender is a word that has taken on a generally negative connotation. For many, it has become synonymous with defeat or failure. Consider some of the dictionary definitions of the word: Cease resistance to an enemy or opponent and submit to their authority. Give up or hand...
31 Aug bridging the gap
A friend recently pointed out something very important from Genesis Chapter 1. It wasn’t anything I didn’t know, but the Holy Spirit used my friend to show me the verses in a new light. As God creates all that we know there is a common...
23 Aug little boy lost
I vividly remember a Thanksgiving Day some 25 years ago. I don’t remember the meal or the weather, or the football games. I remember that our younger child, two or three years old, went missing. I remember the stages we went through. Calmly looking, calling...
15 Aug Unconditional
I recently struck up a conversation with a man in a park. I mentioned that I was a pastor and after a brief conversation he revealed that he drank and smoked and asked if he would be welcomed in my church. I jokingly pointed out...
01 Aug access
I will soon turn 61 years old. I remember when I thought that was old. Unfortunately, there are a lot of things I don’t remember these days. Perhaps the most frustrating memory lapses are when I forget passwords to online sites. And just this week,...
27 Jul Loaves and glasses
An old friend from college recently posted something on Facebook that held within it much more than first meets the eye: “People who wonder if the glass is half-empty or half-full miss the point. The glass is refillable.” This post was alcohol-themed, but I replied...
20 Jul cliffhangers
Who shot J.R.? That’s a short sentence that in 1980 created a television tradition that continues to this day: the season-ending cliffhanger. “Dallas” was one of the most-watched series on television at the time and much of America spent that summer waiting for the answer....
13 Jul bookends
I recently discovered that two passages in the Bible create perfect bookends for my life. When I was a young boy, I was very strong in the Catholic faith. I asked for and received a Bible (which I still own) for Christmas when I was...
04 Jul why are we here?
A friend recently told me that attendance is declining at their church. When I asked why, there were several reasons given. But the first was the worship music. Often people cite environmental rather than spiritual reasons for leaving a church or attending less regularly. “The...