During spring break a few years back, my family and I spent a few days over at Turkey Run State Park in Indiana. One afternoon, we decided to drive around that area just to look at the countryside, see a few covered bridges and whatever else we might discover. Judy commented that she had read […]
Landmarks in the middle of nowhere: Small decisions
A few years back, during a visit to Austin, Texas, I spied a historical marker on the side of downtown building. I walked over to it and read these words: “On this site in 1897 nothing happened.” I smiled and went on my way, but it caused me to think. I suspect that indeed something […]
Building altars for each other
I went to a reunion of a group of 30-somethings who had been the teenagers in the church where I had been the youth minister. It was exhilarating and humbling to see these people after almost 20 years. We had grown up together. Though I was supposedly their “leader”, I was only a few years […]
Hostility or Civility?
We must give up the idea that we have to be right and that others therefore have to be wrong. We must embrace the idea that we each have something to learn from the other, even the other who is so different we get scared. It also requires that we keep our mouth shut until we have heard the other person fully and clearly rather than jumping in as soon as we have formulated a rebuttal.