Category Thoughts

This morning as I was working at the local soup kitchen in town, I got to work in the dish room.  This piqued my curiosity, because I never get to work in the dish room.  It can be very intense,… Continue Reading →

Over the course of the last decade, I’ve had four surgeries, one of which was to heal a potentially life-threatening problem. I have scars from all four of them, deep scars that burrow into the core of my body. And… Continue Reading →

This evening I had a little bit of free time, so I picked up my copy of a small popular daily devotional.  As I read the words for the day’s entry, I came back to a point that I’ve thought… Continue Reading →

This summer marks the end of my fifth year as a youth leader at my church.  It’s a bittersweet time for me, because I know that the current season of my life is drawing to a close, and God is… Continue Reading →

Today is my spiritual retreat day.  A couple of times every year, I pull away from my normal responsibilities and routines and spend a day by myself focusing on my relationship with God.  That time includes prayer, reading scripture, journaling,… Continue Reading →

Love is patient and kind. Love is not jealous or boastful or proud or rude. It does not demand its own way. It is not irritable, and it keeps no record of being wronged.  It does not rejoice about injustice… Continue Reading →

One of the sounds of the summer in Illinois is that of the Cicada Song.  Like many insects, around this time each year, cicadas burrow up from the ground, molt, mate, and die.  However, there is something very unique about… Continue Reading →

Worry.  Whether we want to admit it or not, from time to time, we all come face to face with this foe.  Different from fear or anxiety, worry is dwelling on what may be or what may be to come,… Continue Reading →

A few days ago it was almost 90 degrees.  Today it was 47.  Welcome to Illinois – if you don’t like the weather, just wait a few days, it’ll change 🙂  Things like that happen every time the seasons transition… Continue Reading →

Most of us have either seen or read A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens.  At one point in the story, Jacob Marley laments to his former partner about the weight of the terrible chains that he has to bear in… Continue Reading →