Sometimes it is important for me to be reminded that I am who God created.  This morning I was reminded that I need to be myself and not try to be someone else.  This means I need to accept myself with all the wonderful qualities that God placed in me, as well as the not [...]

Today I went to the coffee shop that I frequent on almost a daily basis.  It is part of my daily routine.  I come to the office and work for about 20-30 minutes, I then put on my coat and walk the 2.5 blocks to the coffee shop.  Last fall, the place that I would [...]

Today I was able to celebrate the life of a woman who I have known for over eleven years.  It was a great celebration of her life and her resurrection.  I know that many people struggle with the concept of a funeral service being a celebration.  I do not want to minimize the grief and [...]

January seems to me to be a good month to do a little cleaning out.  So far this month I have cleaned out three file drawers at the office.  It is good to go through them and determine what to keep and what to get rid of.  It is always amazing to me what I [...]

Who doesn’t want to be perfect?  ME!!!! In a recent conversation, the idea of being perfect as a person came up.  After giving that conversation some thought, I came to the conclusion that I do not want to be perfect.  Now, don’t misunderstand me, I do want to continue to grow and improve myself but [...]

In my devotional reading this morning, I read John 4:16-26 in Eugene Petersen’s The Message.  This passage is part of the discussion that Jesus is having with the Samaritan woman at Jacob’s well.  They are talking about the right place to worship God.  Jesus says to the woman: “Your worship must engage your spirit in the [...]

I came across this post in my reading this morning.  I would love to hear your comments about it. http://reyes-chow.com/2012/01/guest-blogger-david-henson-is-the-death-of-the-mainline-really-such-a-bad-thing

Have you received or given a backhanded compliment?  This week I have been the recipient of a few of them and they have made me stop and do some thinking.  Now for those that are not sure what I am referring to, let me give a bit of explanation.  In my view, a backhanded compliment [...]

I have lived in Iowa more years of my life than less.  In those years, I have been fairly accustomed to the weather patterns.  I have also discovered that as each year goes by, I like winter weather less and less.  So having only three 1+” snowfalls since November 1 has been a joy to me.  [...]

Okay, I realize that I have not been faithful in blogging over the last couple of weeks.  It seems that when I returned from vacation, I became busy with catching up and preparing for two separate retreats that I was leading.  Then while on those retreats I did not post on my blog.  Returning from [...]