… and it’s all small stuff! Richard Carlson wrote a book using that title. I have not read it, but I think I should. Did you ever notice how quickly trivial matters take over in life, how much time we… Continue reading

I woke up today feeling incredibly wealthy. No, I didn’t win Mega-Millions. (That would be fun, wouldn’t it?) My retirement account has not grown very much, if at all, in this last quarter. My bank account is balanced, but certainly… Continue reading

Ben Franklin’s maxim about the inevitability of death and taxes could well be re-written to include a third inevitable experience in life: Conflict! It’s everywhere – politics, religion, church, school, local pub, homes, among friends. Surely there is a time… Continue reading

According Doug Pollock (Outreach, August, 2005 issue) as American forces moved through the city of Najah in April, 2003, rumors spread that the soldiers were going to desecrate a mosque. An angry crowd of Iraqi civilians gathered and bloodshed seemed… Continue reading

In her column, Connie Schultz reports, “St. John’s Reformed United Church of Christ is a 225-year-old church in rural Middlebrook, Va. On Wednesday, the outgoing message on the church phone still invited you to buy tickets for May’s spaghetti supper,… Continue reading

One of my favorite Scripture stories is that of Daniel – whose Hebrew name means “God is my Judge.” Most likely from a family of prominence in Judah, he was swept up in the first Assyrian invasion and taken to… Continue reading

Robert Burns, the 18th century Scottish poet, wrote of the poor mouse whose nest was torn up by the farmer’s plow. “The best laid schemes o’ mice and menGang aft a-gley, (go oft awry)And leaves us naught but grief and… Continue reading

It doesn’t get much more dead than Ezekiel’s vision of the valley of dry bones! Familiar with it? In the 37th chapter of his book, the prophet tells of being set in the middle of a valley that was full… Continue reading

When I anticipate a big expense I like to set aside money to meet it so that when the bill arrives, I know that the resource needed is ‘in the bank.’ When there are more expenses than there are resources,… Continue reading

Missed expectations, irritating circumstances, miserable people, tragedy… the list of causes for disappointment is a long one. Disappointment ranges across a wide spectrum of emotions – the awful to the merely unpleasant. Finding out that the person to whom you’re… Continue reading