Feature Columnists

I read these words of C.S. Lewis: "The most basic lesson that all art teaches us is to stop, look and listen to life on this planet, including our own life" Lewis goes on to say that "life is far more mysterious than we would suppose. If we are to love God, we must first stop, look, and listen for...

Folks who identify as Christian are once again enmeshed in the annual navigation of the 40-day period of sober reflection known as Lent. In my former years of pastoral ministry, I described Lent, which has no New Testament authorization but is regularly practiced in many traditions, including my...

Heavy rain the night of Feb. 27 left everything in the woods wet and muddy. But more than that, every gully in the hills was pouring water. As the rain was slowing during the morning, I knew the little waterfalls would last for only a few hours. I believe the little waterfalls are among the most...

Recently I received a copy of my distant grandfather's immigration papers. He arrived in the United States from Prussia in 1854. I have relished having a copy of this piece of my family's history. Of the many things this copy of immigration papers means, it also is a stark reminder of how my life...

The snow had drifted in places up to a foot, and I hadn't gone to work all week. Now, it was Friday, we planned to celebrate one of my coworkers' birthdays, and I wanted to be there. Even though the driveway was snowed shut, I didn't think it would be a problem. The night before, my dad had told me...

The morning I took this photo the temperature was 6 degrees above zero. During the night, it had fallen to -2 degrees. I found a starling laying in the snow frozen to death, and I wondered why more little birds had not suffered the same fate. How their tiny toes keep from freezing solid is a marvel...

Does being content with what you have mean you have no motivation to make more of yourself? Does it mean to stay stuck in a rut, to flee from trying for bigger and better successes? Those are questions we've all experienced. I first pondered how content I should be with what I have when COVID-19...

At the time this column was written several days ago, Southeast Missouri was enmeshed in its biggest snowstorm in years. Many of us have heard the sound of scraping shovels, and we've heard squealing children enjoying sled rides this past week. How welcome the white stuff is somewhat dependent on...

Snow can make the difference when it comes to a good winter photo or an average one. A woodland ridge top will often offer a nice photo opportunity. On Feb. 14, the sunrise temperature was 4 degrees above zero in my neighborhood of Southeast Missouri. I was able to get this photo before the...

In 1989, I took Rush Limbaugh's radio show off the air in St. Louis. It was the worst professional decision I ever made. In August of that year, I became operations manager of KXOK Radio, the AM radio station with the best daytime signal in the area and was given a mandate by ownership to convert...

Last Saturday evening, it snowed into the night. The next morning it had stopped snowing and about 2 inches of snow lay on the ground. The temperature was about 12 degrees, and the sun was rising, when I went looking for something to photograph. I followed fox tracks across a pond levee and down...

Maria Shriver, in her book "I've Been Thinking ... Reflections, Prayers and Meditations for a Meaningful Life" writes our world is yearning to be mothered; we need mothering on a large scale. "All of the world's children -- young and old -- are looking to be loved, accepted, nurtured, soothed and...

The difference between "married" and "marred" is the letter "i." The word marred means to damage, spoil, disfigure, or scar. The word married evokes images of love, happiness, pleasure and family. One little "i" makes a tremendous difference In every relationship, especially in marriage, the "i"...

Birds of prey are often difficult to distinguish from one another. Red-tailed hawks are probably the most commonly seen hawk in Southeast Missouri. They regularly sit on road signs and high line poles. They tend to frequent grassy roadsides, where they search for mice...

How does everything fit in your world? Do you live within your center, or around the edges? If you think about it, really think about it, I believe it isn't until we're living in the later part of our lives, or have experienced many struggles, we cease to live around the edges...

I read the other day about the recent retirement of musician Kris Kristofferson. Kristofferson is 84 and has led, by any fair estimation, an interesting and productive life. He kept his birth surname of Swedish extraction, resisting Hollywood entreaties to abbreviate because an agent deemed it...

Remember the song "Born to be Wild" by Steppenwolf. "Heading out on the highway, looking for adventure, whatever comes your way, you were born to be wild." Nearly anytime someone in a movie, TV shows or commercial takes off and does something adventurous, the soundtrack starts. ...

I am someone who sometimes struggles with fear. It is, essentially, the same conundrum Adam and Eve faced when the serpent spoke to them in the Garden of Eden: Fear tells me I must grasp at the things I hope for because I am not loved enough for them to be given to me. ...

Last week a wildlife officer with the Arkansas Game and Fish Department sent me this image of a white oak tree. He told me the tree had a 24-inch trunk diameter, was about 15 feet tall and was hollow from the top down. Last July a team charged with documenting black bears in Arkansas live trapped a...

Do you ever feel that you want to dig deeper into your life? I mean, the feeling part of it -- the now. We want to find out what's there, and exactly what life is made of? What'll make us a part of it? We all feel the desire to reach out and grasp a hold on life, don't we? But when we spread our...

"They say that these are not the best of times, but they're the only times I've ever known." --"Summer, Highland Falls," Billy Joel, 1975 Joel wrote the words forming this column's epigram during a pleasant visit the pop singer and composer made to Highland Falls, New York...

What you see here is symbiotic living organism called lichen. Symbiotic means it is actually two or more organisms living in close relationship beneficial to both. There are many kinds of lichen living in nearly every ecosystem on Earth. The lichen I photographed here is a combination of an algae...

What if I told you there was one habit you could build into your life that would have a cascading impact both on you and those around you. A habit essential but not exclusive to the Christian faith. A habit that can lower your blood pressure, reduce stress, help you live longer, and lift your mood....

In her 1981 keynote address "The Uses of Anger: Women Responding to Racism" at the National Women's Studies Association Conference, writer Audre Lorde made a helpful distinction between anger and hatred. She said, "This hatred and our anger are very different. Hatred is the fury of those who do not...

A few weeks ago I received a cellphone message from someone who regularly reads my newspaper feature. He told me he and his wife own a small pond where they have seen a strange-looking bird they think is called an Egyptian goose. That seemed odd to me, but I was definitely interested...

A very long time ago, at least for me it was, I worked two summers in a steel fabricating plant. The work was desultory but honest. As a 1970s-era college student needing employment in the summer, I labored alongside much older men who clearly were bored by their work...

Do you always make New Year's resolutions? This custom seems to be one numerous people feel compelled to follow each New Year. Many stress over what changes they need to make in their lives. After all--it's New Year's Day. I, myself, feel guilty if I neglect to attempt to come up with an idea or...

There are a few Bible verses that I like to look over at the closing of one year and the beginning of the new. One of those verses is Psalm 90:12, which reads, "So teach us to number our days that we may get a heart of wisdom." There are a couple of principles from this verse that direct our...

The days after Christmas and the beginning of the year are quiet, like an exhale, all the world being what it is and inviting us in to be, too. After the hustle and bustle and expectation leading up to Christmas day, these days are a bit of a relief, this space in which we no longer anticipate, but...

A frosty morning can be a good time to head outdoors in search of things dressed in ice crystals. A few days ago, a cold night provided me the frosty morning I was hoping for. Small. simple things become special with little spikes of ice sticking off of them. In this case, I discovered the shell of...

We often think of sparrows as small brown birds that like to aggressively take over bird houses made for wrens, bluebirds and purple martins. But there are other kinds of sparrows in the wilds of Southeast Missouri. In this photo I took the afternoon of Dec. 20, you can see the intricate detail of...

We are now in the midst of celebrating Christmas. We might still be unwrapping presents and, visiting friends and family, but we're almost finished with the excitement of partying, and participating in the wonderful church services, pageants and other religious observances. It's time now to ponder...

Priorities. Seven Christmases ago I didn't have them sorted correctly. This author was trying to get home to see his father before the latter died of oral cancer. There was a tight window of time to get to Pennsylvania and back. At the time, I was under part-time episcopal appointment to preach...

Frank Constanza introduced a nation to Festivus and the "Airing of Grievances." "I've got a lot of problems with you people," he shouted, "and now you are going to hear about it." Let the barrage of disappointments, frustrations and bitterness commence...

Weary. Weathered. Worn. Tired and heavy. It struck me after Communion the other week, as I watched my fellow parishioners -- our body -- walk back to their pews: this is how we look at the end of a year that has been hard. It's how we feel after a year that has taken so much. It's how we stand...

What keeps you going when you're ready to drop? You can't take another step, think the darkness in your soul will never end and both hands go up in despair? All of us have felt that way at one time or another. Those feeling have been occurring since the time of Isaiah as he tried to comfort God's...

"Are you still so dull?" Jesus asked them. (Matthew 15:16) A cursory reading of the New Testament will yield the Master's range of emotions, including exasperation, which is seen in the above epigram. In the verse immediately preceding the one noted above, St. Peter had asked Jesus to explain to...

Turkey tail mushrooms are tricky for a novice like me to identify. I see them in the woods often and find them interesting to look at, but have never taken time to learn about them. Even after researching information on turkey tail mushrooms, I remain a novice...