Who Do You Trust? Just about everyone who drives a car has a story of an experience that left them angry, frightened, shaken, or just shaking his or her head. We consider ourselves safe, law abiding drivers and are concerned when someone is driving erratically or aggressively. The closer theyRead More →
It’s a Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood The past week and a half has been a time of fear, anxiety, determination, hope, and (just a little) pride. The outstanding community effort to do the hard work that was needed to protect the city of Cedar Rapids from the rising floodwatersRead More →
How we define and use many of the words that are part of our everyday conversations probably doesn’t always match up with the definition we’d find in a dictionary. The part of the country in which we live, our occupations, even our family’s quirky terminology, all influence not only howRead More →
Lord, Teach Us to Pray Personal prayer can be one of the greatest challenges of an individual Christian’s faith life. We have a comfort level with prayer in church, when we pray together the familiar words of the Lord’s Prayer, and participate in the responsive prayer. We expect to hearRead More →
Changing – And Unchanging Most of us are happy to see fall arriving, with some cooler temperatures and the sense that the season is changing, especially after the oppressive summer we’ve had this year. Heading out of town earlier this week, I was truly surprised to see the brightRead More →
What’s Inside Those Walls? There seems to be an endless variety of advice and “how to” information available on television, in newspapers and magazines, or at any home supply store on how to renovate, remodel or spruce up your home. The answer to all your needs may be to purchaseRead More →
“May your choices reflect your hopes, not your fears.” – Nelson Mandela, President of South Africa, Nobel Peace Prize laureate “Trying to be happy by accumulating possessions is like trying to satisfy hunger by taping sandwiches all over your body.” – George Carlin, Humorist “Coming together is the beginning, keeping togetherRead More →
Education for Ministry [EfM] In this post-modern world, personal opinions abound. From newspaper “Op-Ed” pieces to Facebook posts, Tweets, Instagrams, and Blogs to Radio and TV talk shows to campaign speeches for public office. It seems that everyone has an opinion on just about every topic. And whether we shareRead More →
Christian Values . . . Olympic Ideals If you’ve turned on your television, looked at online media, or read a newspaper in the past week, you probably know that the 2016 Olympic Summer Games are taking place. The opening ceremony Friday evening seemed nearly endless, but I just couldn’t stop watchingRead More →
Construction Zone As summer has been moving along at its usual breakneck speed, simply driving down a street becomes something of a cross between an obstacle course and a dodge-’em cars amusement park ride. Heavy trucks and other equipment rumble around construction sites, clouds of dust and dirt billow everywhere, and materials of all kindsRead More →