I guess I thought it was a good idea at the time. I really don’t know. It has been a long time ago. All I know about the timing of the event is that I’ve seen a picture of me as a very young boy that shows the evidence of my decision/action.  The photographer apparently thought that it would be a good idea to let the little guy pose with a ball in his hands. If you look at his hands, you can easily see the evidence of that decision I’d made earlier. There is a very visible scar on the index finger of his left hand.  That evidence is still there, but it is…

I like to think of myself as an American patriot. Obviously, I don’t agree with every decision that is made by our country’s leaders, but I do still take a great deal of pride in the nation I call home. The fact that 3 of my great-grandparents served directly in the Second World War has given me a lot to be proud of, especially in light of this week’s holiday. I am thankful for the nation that God chose to place me within and for the Christian principles that it was founded upon. Despite all this, I also realize that this country has flaws. Being a member of the post-millennial…

I played soccer for a couple of years growing up. Considering I said I only played a couple of years, you can guess how successful I was. (I was terrrrrrrrrible). To this day, I don’t enjoy watching soccer very much. Whether or not you like soccer, though, I think you can pick up on this analogy. Picture in your mind very little kids on their first soccer team. The coach–who is exhausted from just trying to get the kids gathered up to start the game–is trying to yell out instructions and encouragement, but it’s useless. And you likely know why. If you have seen little kids play soccer at all,…

She is lonely. She has no family in our area. She is, in fact, estranged from her family who all live in another state. She is in a nursing home. She can be demanding. She has/is a soul.  I was visiting with her recently. I was being reminded (again) that, at least as far as she is concerned, I do not visit her nearly often enough. During our conversation, she said something that I find difficult to get off my mind. She asked if I could encourage others from our congregation to visit with her.  That’s not the part of the conversation that has stayed with me. In fact, in some ways I dismissed it fairly quickly…

I had a birthday this week! I have no qualms (at least yet in life) about telling my age but Jeremiah took care of it for me this year. For those who didn’t see the video my husband used the other day to announce my new age to the world, you can find it here. The irony is, I had already planned to write this article based on that commercial! I was a fan of Icky back when he was performing his famous “Icky Shuffle” for touchdowns instead of cold cuts, so I love that commercial. But that is not why I wanted to write an article that mentioned it.…