I recently came across an article from the Good News Network about some very old trees. In 1993, a cypress tree stump in Chile was confirmed by tree-ring-counting as 3,622 years old—showing the capacity of these slow-growing relatives of sequoia to endure through centuries. However, another scientist recently found that a living individual, known as…
I am currently visiting my father in Rice Lake, Wisconsin. Rice Lake is in the northwest portion of the state. I believe the town is named after the lake and not the other way around. Although I leave for Chicago, IL tomorrow and then to Galesburg, IL after that, I am taking the time to…
I read an article this past week that touched my heart. I want to share a portion with you… Ayda Zugay isn’t someone who normally likes to save things. The walls of her Boston home are bare. She keeps a small bag packed with essential items in case she ever needs to leave quickly. But…
If you didn’t hear, Easter was last week. The core truth of Christianity is the resurrection of Jesus who is God in the flesh. Some people don’t believe that, and that’s ok. However, if you are a Christian, that is non-negotiable. I’ll be honest with you, its not really possible to call yourself a Christian…
In 1959, Thomas Hoving, of New York’s Metropolitan Museum, purchased an ornate ivory cross from a Yugoslavian art collector for the museum. However, the cross wasn’t from Yugoslavia, it was from England and it was old. The cross is dated to c. 1150 AD. This altar cross contains ninety-two figures and ninety-eight inscriptions. The detailed…
Columnist Deborah Mathis wrote about the time when she was at Union Station in Washington D.C. on a particularly busy day. The first thing she remembers about that experience was the noisy hubbub of sounds. The public address announcer calling out arrivals and departures. Scores of pagers, walkie-talkies, and cell phones cried out for someone’s…
Last Sunday at Community Lutheran Church in Las Vegas, we conducted our annual congregational meeting. We accomplished several things at that meeting: We voted on a church budget for 2022, we discussed our ministries and we voted in two new council members. The budget I proposed to the congregation and adopted involved some painful decisions….
Having COVID stinks. There I said it. My heart goes out to all who suffered much worse and to those families who lost loved ones to this horrible virus. Yes like most people, I was wishing 2022 would be different somehow. Maybe it will be, but not quite yet. Instead of wishing, I need to…
May the Lord direct your hearts into God’s love and Christ’s perseverance. 2 Thessalonians 3:5 The verse above appears to be a blessing bestowed upon the church of Thessalonica by Saint Paul. I need both of those blessings. First to be guided into God’s love and then to persevere like Jesus, especially in 2022. Like you,…
Well, we step into a new year on Saturday. I know, I know, dates are a human creation, but this is the way we mark time, and a new year is upon us. I don’t know what the new year holds for us as individuals or as a church, but I am sure of one…
