Last week as I was driving onto campus, the radio station happened to play Willie Nelson’s “On the Road Again.” As I fought the fatigue of my Monday morning commute, I couldn’t help but readjust my attitude to realize the great privilege I have had in pursuing seminary. To be certain, the journey has not …
As the weather changes, I can’t help but be reminded of the summer we spent at my grandmother’s pool. I can remember some Springs that were so warm that my grandfather would open the pool on Easter Sunday. The brave souls that were the grandchildren would timidly creep to the edge of the pool and …
One of the aspects of my congregation that I love the most is that we are constantly exchange things: food, coupons, clothes, and books. There’s nothing better for a reader like me to walk into church and be handed a new book with a great recommendation. Which is how I ended up with One Child. …
that my experience as a teacher and more specifically as a reading specialist might be a central part of my ministry. Because I was a public school teacher, I had trained myself to show my faith in encouraging families and working hard to provide a quality education to children in poverty and in at risk …
As a teacher, I got used to carrying things in the back of my car pertaining to teaching: books, materials for science experiments, math manipulatives, etc. This wasn’t uncommon or strange, in fact after school you could often find a switch going on from one teacher’s car to another teacher’s as materials were shared back …
I was listening to an NPR report with a state university professor of economics (I missed which one as I tried to track the station through the small towns of my commute) and was intrigued by his suggestion that we are moving back to a hunter and gatherer economy. His suggestion was that there is …
This morning started at 5:00 am. The ice is melting, and I am worried about the piano. It should be fine if the temperature hasn’t fallen below 55 in the sanctuary, but if there ever is a time that that might have happened, that time would have been the last two days. I am also …
The night brought more ice and refrozen ice and power outages. Our power was fine, but when my phone dinged with the Civil Emergency Notice, I knew it was time to start checking on my congregants. Already one missed call as I fixed my first cup of coffee. Yup, one person without power. Thinking …
Of course the ice storm happened on a Wednesday, again. I looked outside and it was clear that this one was worse than the last one. There was no way I was getting my car out and our road had not been scraped. I was stuck. So, Wednesday morning started with being sure that the …
As I started my last semester of classes in seminary, I realized that soon this two-week life will be over. I can actually see the finish line. I can actually count down the number of times I have to commute to school. It’s surreal. I have become accustomed to starting my week at seminary …
