Inevitably after the long campaigns that have been fought by the candidates at all levels in yesterdays midterm elections, the media and political pundits speak in term of ‘winning and losing.’ The various ‘wins’ and ‘losses’ will be debated in the coming days, and the politicians from both sides of the aisle will ‘spin’ their […]

Then I saw heaven opened, and there was a white horse! Its rider is called Faithful and True, and in righteousness he judges and makes war. His eyes are like a flame of fire, and on his head are many diadems; and he has a name inscribed that no one knows but himself. He is […]

It is the time of year when we decorate our homes, workplaces and sometimes our dress with the dark themes of Halloween. There is the bright and cheery prospect of candy and pumpkin spice, but there is also the long dark of winter approaching. When we celebrate Halloween, we are joining in ancient celebrations centuries […]

According to Steven Pile’s The Book of Heroic Failures, Hiroo Onoda, a lieutenant in the Japanese army still believed he was fighting the Second World War until 10th of March 1974, 29 years after the war ended! How did he not know that peace of been declared? He was stationed on a remote island in […]

I once read through the entire bible in 90 days. As I began I feared failure. The time commitment to read some 12 chapters of scripture each day, I feared I wouldn’t manage my time well enough to accomplish the goal. Time management is always an issue in our busy lives. Listen to these lyrics […]

When it was evening on that day, the first day of the week, and the doors of the house where the disciples had met were locked for fear of the Jews, Jesus came and stood among them and said, “Peace be with you.” 20 After he said this, he showed them his hands and his side. Then […]

        This month for Quench – a group exploring spiritual practices together -we enjoyed a Saturday morning exploring contemplative prayer and lectio divina. One thing the instructor said about lectio divina, or divine reading, was that you could use this practice not only with scripture, but you could also use it looking at art […]

There will be many in industry, retail and commerce that shudder when they hear the two words, ‘stock taking.’ For them it probably brings to mind the endless hours hurriedly running around in warehouses and stores counting and recounting the raw materials in stock and the goods on the shelf waiting to be sold or […]

Carolyn and I went last Friday to friends who have a house on the edge of Lake Winona. After a nice lunch, we changed into shorts, and short-sleeved shirts went out onto the lake on their pontoon boat. We went around the lake looking at the various properties on the shoreline and talking about growing […]

Yesterday I made the three and a half hour drive to a 12:30 p.m. appointment at the Homeland Security offices in terminal five at O’Hare international airport on the north side of Chicago. As I went into the secure area, I was greeted by a rather large male Homeland security officer seated inside a glass-walled security cubicle, who between the mouthfuls of a sandwich he was eating, greeted me […]