CoffeeBreak With The Word

This week was Vacation Bible School week at my home church.  It’s always a memorable time, but this week, for the first time, I participated as a volunteer, not as ‘the pastor.’  I took note of the many ways that other volunteers (58 in total) played a part in creating  an amazing experience for a […]

More than once I have avoided some ‘new’ or unfamiliar social scene wondering about ‘how I should act’ or if I would ‘fit in.’  However, I enjoy a new experience if someone who knows ‘how it works’ will accompany me.  I’ll pass up a new restaurant for one where I know the menu, but if […]

En·cour·age:to inspire with hope, courage, or confidence; hearten.To give support to; foster.To stimulate growth; spur onward in personal development. Recently I have re-committed myself, with varying success, to seek to encourage, to be a person who adds ‘oxygen to the room’ rather than sucking the life out of others with critical or negative words. I […]

We sat together over a meal. The person I was with criticized, complained, belittled, and griped for 50 minutes of the hour. Yet, the life that he has is one of comfort. He makes loud claims of faith and is not shy about declaring that he enjoys a real spiritual maturity. I admit that I […]

The calendar has come ‘round again and tomorrow I mark #67. I would feel ‘old,’ except that I have a friend who will be joining a celebration for her grandmother this weekend. That woman is marking her centennial (100!) this year.  Compared to her, I’m still a kid.  I joked with my children that I […]

Having a conversation with someone who really ‘knows their stuff’ is something I truly enjoy. I soak up the information, glad to be able to share the fruits of another’s hard work and experience. At the opposite side of life, when I am trapped in a conversation with someone who talks as if they know, […]

More than a decade ago, my Mom, in the final months of her life, came to live in our home. It was bittersweet season, a time when she became dependent and I learned much about loving her. She would frequently call me in the middle of night, feeling anxious in the darkness of morning’s small […]

Friday evening I watched the demonstrations that spread across the nation after the announcement that that Supreme Court had reversed the infamous Roe V. Wade decision of 1973 that legalized abortion. The decision to return to the power to regulate the practice of abortion to the States was celebrated and condemned with equal fervor. I […]

The title is a Name of the Lord found in the Bible – “God is Peace.”  Peace! It can be an elusive quality of life.  We might wonder – What is going to happen to our economy? Or closer to home – how can I deal with my difficult teenager?  Or even more personal – […]

Social upheavals in our nation over the last couple of years have shaken the foundations. Women fed up with being treated as sex objects started the “Me, too” movement.  The “Black Lives Matter” movement called for justice for all regardless of skin color. The “Blue Lives Matter” movement sprang up in response to support law […]