As I walked out of Target, violin music reverberated its lovely sound. Plaintive yet smooth. Obviously a professional recording. Or was it? I walked toward my car and looked around the parking lot. Were those melodic notes coming from a car’s stereo? If so, where? The music sounded too fresh, too lovely to be a …
The month of February has always been difficult for me. Usually, the cold and flu bugs continue their romp so the air is filled with germy spores. This year, we are still in the grip of the insidious COVID-19 pandemic. February’s weather is too cold for leisurely walks, and the ground too frozen for gardens. …
Hope sometimes hides in simple places, often in one-word prayers. The prayer life can be taught by spiritual advisors and multiple resources, but I think God most appreciates our prayers when they come from the desperate places of our hearts. One-word prayers exist in that place where self-sufficiency ends. The gut punch past emotion and …
Throughout our city, wherever we traveled, we heard it. In grocery stores, libraries, Target and Wal-Mart – even during church services where it occurred in stereo sound – one person in the aisle echoed by someone across the room. The Great Cough of 2016. In spite of vitamins, clean eating and daily spraying through the …
We are moving toward the Christmas market and ready to leave the year behind. We have reached our annual goals or transferred them to the next year’s editorial calendar. It’s easy to sit back, take stock of the year and start planning for Auld Lang Syne. But 2020 has presented a special challenge — the …
Memories of fun in the past included rollercoaster rides. Those giant metal or wooden edifices roared as the track connected with the train. Hands held high. An unplanned scream. Stomach muscles clenched in a clash between fear and excitement. But today’s rollercoaster comes not from a machine or long lines of customers anticipating the ride …
Our world is being attacked by a vicious virus. But we are also facing a mental virus that threatens to destroy hope. That virus is dread. Multiple scientists and pundits are predicting the fall and winter of 2020 will be the worst season ever. We will see an uptick of Covid cases coupled with the …
During a recent journey from Wichita to Kansas City, my check engine light came on. At the same time, I was nursing a painful hip from a displaced sacroiliac. Normally, I enjoy driving the open road. I slide in the CD of my favorite soundtrack, munch on a snack and sip some water, sing along …
As Covid-19 marches on, how can we stay in hope? Somehow the platitude of “We’re all in this together” sounds hollow. I need something more. This week, I focused on an Old Testament story where the community faced a plague of serpents. The children of Israel grumbled, because they were impatient and tired of the …
Although many of us miss the corporate meetings of church, one part of the routine is more comfortable for me at home — Communion. The sacrament of the Lord’s Supper is special. I don’t like observing it every Sunday as some churches do. It seems then to become as ritualistic as the parking space I …