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A New Year and Time to Move On (12/30/23)When I consider your heavens, The work of your fingers, The moon and the stars, Which you have set in place, What is humanity, O God, that you are mindful of us, Human beings that you care for us? Psalm 8:3-4/NIV. Two years ago on Christmas Day 2021, NASA launched the James Webb Space Telescope...
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Christmas kryptonite (12/16/23)If asked for my favorite superhero, Superman would come to mind first for me. Each time our personal vehicle crosses into Metropolis, Illinois, we visit Superman Square and are again reminded of the mythical figure whose strength and otherworldly abilities far exceeded even the most impressive human...
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Getting it in writing (12/2/23)Close Cape Girardeau friends of ours have recently returned from a weeklong trip to France, visiting Paris, Caudebec-En-Caux, Rouen, Les Andelys, Honfluer and the D-Day remembrance sites in Normandy. Trip of a lifetime, no doubt. If the funds to afford such a journey were available -- an unlikely prospect to be sure at my stage of life -- I'd enjoy visiting Rheims, sometimes spelled "Reims"...
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In late life, a job to improve the spirit for Dr. Ruth (11/18/23)Loneliness was tough, the toughest role you ever played. -- "Candle in the Wind" by Elton John & Bernie Taupin, 1973, a song written in memory of Marilyn Monroe. When you think you may have heard or seen it all, it's instructive occasionally to realize you haven't...
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From Gaffigan to Luther: Welcome Reformation Day (10/28/23)Comedian Jim Gaffigan may not be everybody's cup of tea, but I like him. He's a clean observational comic and his standup act often mentions his wife, Jeannie, and their five children who all live in a New York City apartment. Gaffigan, 57, talks frequently about his Catholic faith but sometimes references his Protestant roots in the Midwest...
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Seeking a better rote response? Consider the Jesus example (10/14/23)My wife and I have been fortunate enough to travel -- to the British Isles, continental Europe and the Middle East. I've noticed at least one rhetorical difference between the U.S. and these far-flung locales. In our country, we don't like to pass one another in a hallway, in the street or in a marketplace without saying something...
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Who I hope to be when I grow up (9/30/23)We all stand on the shoulders of those who came before us -- at least in a figurative way. My late mother-in-law, for example. Found among her papers following her death a dozen years ago is a letter she wrote to God. Her children have deemed her undated missive her personal psalm of praise, thanksgiving and faith...
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A pastor's decision to stay (9/16/23)Pastor Tyler Tankersley is a Cape Girardeau native now serving as senior pastor of Ardmore Baptist Church in Winston Salem, North Carolina. Tyler, who served First Baptist Church in his hometown from 2015 to 2019, has written a column for baptistnews.com that caught my attention due to its declarative title: "Why I've Stayed"...
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Talking compassion (9/2/23)While a younger man, the congregation to which I'd been appointed had embarked on a capital campaign to renovate a historic structure on our church campus and to build a visitors center. My role, as senior pastor, was to be chief cheerleader and fundraiser for the two-pronged project...
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Nothing lasts forever (8/19/23)Twin blows were received by the Southeast Missouri economy earlier this month as lawnmower maker Briggs & Stratton announced 202 layoffs at its Poplar Bluff plant starting in October, leaving about 1,000 workers at the facility. The furloughs follow closely the decision by Tyson Foods to shutter permanently its poultry processing operations, also in mid-October, at the cost of nearly 700 jobs...
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Games people play (8/5/23)Many of us, perhaps most of us, were weaned on games. The best games teach us something about life. My late mother and maternal grandmother used to host card parties at their homes on Friday nights. The living room was jammed with small tables at which the action would commence...
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Envy and the Hollywood actors' strike (7/22/23)A little over three weeks ago, my wife and I saw actor Sean Astin speak at Chautauqua Institution in western New York state. Astin comes from Hollywood royalty as the son of the late actress Patty Duke. He has some impressive credits of his own, starring as the lead in the 1993 movie, "Rudy", and as Samwise Gamgee in the "Lord of the Rings" trilogy films...
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Neatsfoot: Memories as the Mid-Summer Classic approaches (7/8/23)Yours truly was not the worst baseball player ever to don a uniform but at the risk of mixing metaphors, the game was not in my wheelhouse. I'm thinking of my youthful exploits on the diamond, such as they were, as Major League Baseball's All-Star Game prepares for first pitch at 7 p.m. Tuesday, July 11, in Seattle...
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Regards to Pastor Dunsel (6/24/23)All of my graduate school education is in ministry studies and I served the pastoral office for 25 years in two Protestant denominations. Nownere in my masters-level or doctoral work was anything remotely contemplated as a sermon generated by artificial intelligence...
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The power of symbol - the cross, the flag (6/10/23)Twenty years ago this month, my wife, Lois, and I awakened in a bed and breakfast in England's Cotswolds region, the home territory of legendary British Prime Minister Winston Churchill. We had been in the United Kingdom for almost three weeks by late June 2003...
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Dealing with haters (5/27/23)In arguably his most poignant movie role, the late actor Michael Clarke Duncan played an inmate in a Southern prison awaiting execution in 1999's "The Green Mile." Duncan's character, John Coffey, was a big bear of a man physically, yet remarkably gentle in spirit...
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Take care of yourself and each other (5/13/23)Sometimes I wonder who the late Jerry Springer might have become had he won a certain election. Long ago, this columnist spent a couple of hours with Springer -- the man America would later know as the longtime ringmaster of the country's most scandalous daytime talk show...
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Good news (4/29/23)Our new dog, a baby beagle/pointer mix with the hint of a pit bull face, came toddling into our living room the other night with her bowl grasped tightly in her teeth. A message, it seems clear, was being delivered to her owners. What came to mind, as Daisy dropped the bowl at my feet and licked my face, was an old quote attributed to a Sri Lankan pastor, the late D.T. Niles...
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Fighting (4/15/23)"I will fight for you in Washington." This columnist, while hailing from a religious tradition not especially amenable to gambling, would nonetheless like to take bets on which presidential candidate will first utter this column's introductory aphorism as the latest quest for the White House comes into full flower in a few months...
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In Jesus' final week, some words about family (4/1/23)My wife's late maternal grandmother used to say, "I wouldn't trade my family for all the tea in China." The reference is no doubt lost on people these days but China's reputation as a wealthy tea producer goes back an estimated 5,000 years -- which may explain why my wife's ancestor called the aromatic beverage to mind so often...
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The hem of his garment (3/18/23)This column is dedicated to those who have lost loved ones or friends to disease and other maladies. A 1995 dramatic film starring Andy Garcia -- "Things to do in Denver When You're Dead" -- featured a video business called Afterlife Advice. Terminally ill folks pay a service, run by Garcia, to capture their musings on videotape...
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Asking good questions (3/4/23)My wife and I are getting ready for a long-deferred bathroom remodel. We've rented a dumpster preparing for the detritus of construction. While we've got the big green monstrosity in the driveway, we're using the occasion to throw stuff out. Something fortunately saved from the landfill is a book by Laura Story that I used to lead a Bible study a few years ago...
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Darkness retreats, Aaron Rodgers and Lent (2/18/23)The Christian season of Lent starts Wednesday, Feb. 22, ushering in a multi-week period of contemplation heading up to Resurrection Sunday, April 9, otherwise known as Easter. Green Bay Packers quarterback Aaron Rodgers, a former Super Bowl champion and four-time National Football League MVP, has garnered attention for announcing plans to take part in a "darkness retreat"...
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Under God (2/4/23)"I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the Republic for which it stands, one nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all." Many years ago, while both of my in-laws were still alive, this writer was present for a Sunday school class in which Mom and Dad Ford actively participated...
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Magical thinking (1/21/23)Like many other people in the 45 U.S. states in which the game is played, this writer bought Mega Millions tickets earlier this month, hoping to win $1.35 billion. I bought a grand total of two tickets, telling the cashier at my local Jackson supermarket yours truly had no expectation of winning...
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Imago dei and a football player (1/7/23)The outpouring of support across the world for Buffalo Bills player Damar Hamlin following a catastrophic health event suffered during a Jan. 2 football game in Cincinnati has been nothing short of impressive, perhaps even miraculous. The response is, for persons of faith, perhaps a concrete example of imago de, the Latin form of the words "image of God."...
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Hope springs eternal - Zelenskyy, Franco, Jesus (12/24/22)One of the four traditional themes of the season of Advent, the time of waiting in the church for the coming of Christ, is hope. The others are joy, peace and love, but I'm focused on hope this Christmas. Watching Ukraine's president, Volodymyr Zelenskyy, address the U.S. Congress this past Wednesday night in his green battle fatigues reminded this writer of the absolute necessity we all have to hope...
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The best of intentions (12/10/22)I signed up to be part of an out-of-state prayer vigil last week, something to be done remotely in the comfort of my home. Just an hour of my time requested. Even an email reminder was sent listing the date and time of my commitment. Given the way this column begins, you can guess what's coming...
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We would See Jesus (11/26/22)As this column reaches readers, it is the start of the church's season of Advent and less than a month until Christmas. Of course, no photograph was taken of Jesus during his lifetime because the technology didn't exist. As far as we know, no one even attempted a sketch of him -- and if one was made, it's lost to history...
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Sticking a toe in the water (11/12/22)Most everybody reading this column will understand the sentence, "Stick in a toe to test the water." For those who take baths rather than showers to get clean, the phrase speaks to practicality. Gauging the heat of water before lowering yourself into a bathtub is a necessary step, and sticking in a toe is long accepted as a reasonable precaution...
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Considering the notion, 'Stuff Happens' (10/15/22)At the outset, I'd like it understood that my wife is smarter, more insightful and more visionary than her spouse. I, on the other hand, make coffee and do battle with cobwebs, so perhaps she'll keep me around. My better half made a statement last week worthy of close examination because in my opinion, it distills the basic difference in human mindsets...
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Accepting the notion of a leaner church (10/1/22)"There's the church. There's the steeple. Open it up, and look at all the people!" The time-tested playful teaching tool, necessitating the use of both hands, is still used by people with small children. Building upon the metaphor, the truth is there are fewer people to see nowadays...
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Tell the bees she is gone (9/17/22)Queen Elizabeth II, officially "Defender of the Faith" in the United Kingdom, will be buried after a state funeral in London. In all of the exhaustive coverage of her passing since she died Sept. 8 in Scotland, there is one detail this columnist finds fascinating...
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Would you pass a faith sincerity test? (9/3/22)The state of Israel is a small country on the world stage numerically but boasts the most contested real estate on Earth. With 8.9 million people, Israel has 3 million more people than Missouri yet 4 million fewer than Illinois. It is a country comparatively few Americans have visited due to distance and concerns about security (read: terrorism)...
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Paralyzing fear (8/20/22)"I am most terribly afraid." --Actor Gary Oldman, as British Prime Minister Winston Churchill, in "Darkest Hour" (2011). "I've been in Vietnam and I was scared. I've been in Iraq twice and was scared on both deployments. But I am not afraid at Chautauqua."...
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A binary choice for people of faith (8/6/22)After Richard Nixon left the White House in disgrace nearly half a century ago, he gave a series of interviews to British journalist David Frost. In those hours of Frost-Nixon conversations, a telling comment by the nation's 37th president emerged. "When the president does it, that means it is not illegal," Nixon said at the time...
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Worry about decline of belief, especially among the young (7/23/22)After doing a little summer nonfiction reading, my thoughts this weekend center on houses of worship, and I won't sugarcoat what I'm thinking. Frankly, I'm worried. COVID introduced a new reality for churches; thanks to the March 2020 stay-at-home order, parishioners now expect to have the option to stream the service from the comfort of their homes, and many churches now offer virtual church on a permanent basis...
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Mother Nature and 'Nature's God' (7/9/22)Last week, this writer heard Sally Jewell, former secretary of the U.S. Department of the Interior, speak at an event. Jewell's remarks kept me rooted in my seat for an hour as she spoke passionately about getting children -- in particular -- to look up from their cell phones and to experience with their own eyes America's public parks...
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Read a poll, then examine your own heart (6/25/22)Earlier this month, the Gallup Poll reported fewer Americans believe in God. The conclusion is based, Gallup said, on a random selection of 1,007 adults aged 18 and older in all 50 states and the District of Columbia. The polling was conducted between May 2 and May 22...
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Taking cues and connecting dots (6/11/22)Hugh Hewitt has had quite a career. A glance at his resume shows the Midwest native has been a government official, foundation CEO, law professor, newspaper columnist, talk show host and infamously, a panelist booed by the audience during a 2015 presidential debate...
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Another school shooting, another call for thoughts and prayers (5/28/22)It's happened again. Another inexplicable school shooting, this time in Uvalde, Texas. Nineteen elementary students, including one who got an award at an assembly earlier in the day, died Tuesday along with two adults. The 18-year-old gunman is also dead -- shot by responding law enforcement...
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Pastors quitting early -- a growing trend? (5/14/22)In the interests of full disclosure, the writer of this column is a former pastor who retired from pastoral ministry a decade ago. Ergo, I'm troubled but not at all surprised by new statistics released by California-based Barna Group, a Christian polling organization...
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The enduring legacy of Kurt Kaiser (4/30/22)It seems many U.S. high schools have -- for lack of a better term -- "Christian clubs." Even in my day, in the early to the mid-1970s, such groups had to meet before the school day actually began due to the understood separation of church and state...
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Easter 2.0 (4/16/22)"We can't experience the joy of Easter unless we do our Good Friday work." Walter Brueggemann, one of the leading living U.S. theologians, made the comment appearing as an epigram of today's column, in 1991 as a guest speaker at Eden Theological Seminary in St. Louis, my alma mater...
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Faith on a 1 to 10 scale (4/2/22)"How important is your faith to you?" The aforementioned query by U.S. Sen. Lindsey Graham of South Carolina to U.S. Supreme Court nominee Ketanji Brown Jackson should not have been unexpected. Religious faith imbues the values of many, if not most, people who hold some semblance of a belief system...
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Moving away from rebellion (3/19/22)The writer of this column admits readily to a rebellious streak. When as a senior in college and editorial editor of the college newspaper, the student received a bill via snail mail for 63 cents from the school to which he matriculated. He decided to take no action...
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Caesar and Christ (3/5/22)This columnist was reared in a home where "Star Trek: The Original Series (TOS)" was a staple of our Pennsylvania family's weekly television viewing on Friday nights. Not quite eight years of age when the show first premiered on NBC in 1966, the show presented me a possible view of the distant future in which racism was eradicated on Earth, war had been eliminated and money was no longer the driving passion of the lives of human beings...
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Standing on others' shoulders (2/19/22)Rev. Paul Beins was a mentor of mine. Beins, a Lutheran, was the longtime permanent chaplain of the old St. Louis city jail, which he served for 28 years Beins was alternately patient and scolding; he was rough and compassionate. He did not speak the King's English in conversation, perhaps a consequence of decades spent dealing with the incarcerated...
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Losing all my leaves (2/5/22)Some years ago -- about 30 years, truth be told -- I found myself sitting next to an elderly man inside Wohl Psychiatric Hospital in midtown St. Louis. Although in my thirties at the time, pastoral ministry was fairly new to me back then. My training had already taken me to the old St. Louis City Jail on Clark Street...
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Individual or person? (1/22/22)Howard Thurman is a name this columnist had not heard since seminary, more than 30 years ago. Thurman, who died in 1981, a long-time faculty member at Boston University School of Theology, wrote 22 books and founded the Church for the Fellowship of All Peoples in San Francisco -- the first large interracial, interdenominational church in the United States...
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Listening and hoping (1/8/22)The other day I had a fascinating talk with a man about my age. We found we had much in common, and the conversation could have gone on for hours. The genial interlocutor was unaware of my past because it wasn't relevant to the subject matter at hand...
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As a new year prepares to dawn, keep looking up (12/25/21)This columnist never has enjoyed a good sense of direction. East and west as signposts, for example, have little meaning for me. During this Christmas season, with so many vehicles seen again at shopping centers during this vaccinated era, remembering where the car is parked is always an adventure...
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What matters is simple (12/11/21)In the 2021 movie "Belfast," the divisive and violent time known as the Northern Ireland Troubles is seen through the eyes of a little boy named Buddy, played splendidly by 11-year-old actor Jude Hill. Hill may be nominated for an Oscar for his powerful performance, which is a fictionalized portrayal of the growing up years of Kenneth Branagh, who directed the film...
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Put God first (11/27/21)This writer is generally loathe to comment on the experiences of celebrities who go public with their stories of faith. In the 15 years penning this column for the Southeast Missourian, my memory is only once has an entertainer's faith postulations made it into this space...
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Downsizing -- seeing what's really valuable (11/13/21)There's nothing quite like a large construction dumpster to focus the mind. We've been talking about getting rid of our clutter for some time, and last month, my wife acted on it by ordering the big green monstrosity to be placed into our driveway. In nearly 40 years of marriage, we've accumulated a lot as any couple would being together for a similar span of time...
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The Pledge of Allegiance and its 'under God' amendment (10/30/21)Attendance at various governmental meetings is part of my work for this newspaper. All such gatherings begin with a pledge to the U.S. flag. Alumni of the American educational system will note every class day begins with recitation of the pledge -- a vow of national commitment which does not trace its origins back to the founding of the American republic...
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In praise of kindness, wherever you find it (10/16/21)Sometimes it has fallen to me during a previous 25-year incarnation as a local church pastor to assign adjectives to the dead at their funerals. Families are vital in coming up with descriptive words at the time of transition, especially in those cases when the officiant is unfamiliar with the deceased...
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A late comedian and his faith (10/2/21)The comedian Norm MacDonald died last month. He was younger than me at his passing. Cancer. The stand-up comic suffered for almost a decade and said nothing about his illness publicly before his death on Sept. 14 at age 61. Our paths never crossed, but because we live in a wired world, with dozens of MacDonald's video clips available on YouTube, I felt as if I knew him...
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Change: a scary six-letter word (9/18/21)I find myself thinking back quite often on the way things used to be. No doubt this is partially a function of age. I am Social Security eligible but not yet Medicare eligible and with that information, the reader can discern this writer's age is somewhere between 62 and 65...
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Dealing with 'dug in' (9/4/21)This column is written the day after the Cape Girardeau Public Schools Board of Education decided to re-implement a mask mandate after daily student attendance dropped below 90% in most of the district's schools. According to a story by my newsroom colleague Monica Obradovic, 306 of the CGPS' 4,475 students were in quarantine as of Tuesday evening -- with 28 children positive for COVID-19...
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Would Jesus push vaccinations? (8/21/21)Honestly, I don't know the answer to the question. Be careful of anyone who claims insight into the mind of the second person of the Christian Trinity. This is one of those seemingly inescapable "What Would Jesus Do" queries. Let's drill it down. They didn't have vaccines in first-century Palestine. ...
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A song, a church and the NFL (8/7/21)It was more than 27 years ago when a United Methodist bishop sent me to serve a church in south St. Louis. The small congregation, full of senior citizens, was wonderful to us -- and several folks became surrogate grandparents to both our children, born during my tenure there...
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Jesus and Q&A (7/24/21)Something a person should learn in writing for a newspaper is to make sure a pronoun clearly refers to its correct antecedent. Case in point: I recently saw a large welcome sign at the Indiana-Ohio border. The placard carried the emblem of the Buckeye State plus the following declarative sentence -- "Find it here."...
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Marie Curie, her scientific fellows and God (7/10/21)Last weekend, amid the sound of nearby fireworks, I talked to a friend in a Cape Girardeau coffee shop who began discussing Marie Curie, the renowned Polish-French scientist, who died on America's Independence Day, July 4, 1934. I suppose Curie's death date is the reason the discoverer of two elements in the periodic table came to mind in our conversation...
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Being wary of appearances (6/26/21)I enjoy a brisk walk, which I manage to achieve most days of the week. It's a bit more of a challenge in the extreme heat, so I tend to amble in the early morning or well after dark. Typically, I'll listen to an old radio drama on my cell phone as I traverse around Jackson...
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Degrees and handshakes (6/12/21)Much has been written about the phrase, "six degrees of separation," an idea promulgated in an old Great Depression-era short story of U.S. vintage in which a group of people play a game trying to connect any person in the world to themselves via an unbroken chain of five others...
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Thinking about death as a last parent passes (5/29/21)It has been 30 years since I worked under the pastoral leadership of Dr. John Richard Ray, a native of Bernie, Missouri, serving as his assistant before Ray was transferred to lead a church in Poplar Bluff. Ray, now living a well-earned retirement with wife Ruth in rural Kentucky, offered me a lot of insight in those brief 12 months...
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Trying not to fear (5/15/21)There are times in reading the Bible the meaning of a word seems ambivalent. Fear, for example, is such a word. In the book of Proverbs, we read "fear" is a good thing. From the New International Version, the most popular translation in terms of sales in the United States, we read, "The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom and the knowledge of the Holy One is understanding." (Proverbs 9:10)...
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Always have a space, a lesson from "The Blacklist" (5/1/21)A person ought to be judicious before taking a tutorial in morality and ethics from a TV show. Nevertheless, a recent episode of NBC's "The Blacklist" got me thinking about how each of us decides how far to pursue the things we want. Episode 14 of season 8 is a case in point...
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Saving dogs, one trip at a time (4/22/21)On Sunday, my wife, Lois, and I took temporary possession of Brutus, an 80-pound pit bull mix, after an exchange in a parking lot off Exit 95 in Cape Girardeau. A mellow, level-headed boy, Brutus rode contentedly in our SUV, licking Lois' face repeatedly as the three of us trundled north on Interstate 55...
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On an Einstein anniversary -- the great physicist on religion (4/17/21)I will confess to being something of a fan of Albert Einstein. The legendary German-born scientist died in New Jersey 66 years ago this weekend, on April 18, 1955. His views on faith matters are deferred to later in this column because the reader should, in my mind, be appreciative of Einstein's utter uniqueness...
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A little Lennon for Easter (4/3/21)"Life is what happens to you while you're busy making other plans." -- John Lennon (1940-1980), lyrics to the song, "Beautiful Boy." The epigram above is not found in the Bible, but the words usually find their way into funeral services I'm privileged to officiate or in my teaching at Southeast or in personal conversation...
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In praise of life's elders (3/20/21)From my mid-30s and into my late 50s, I had the privilege of pastoring senior citizens: first in a church environment and later in a retirement community. I thought then, and do now, seniors are the most interesting folks alive. When a person has been many times around the sun, has seen many moons -- use whichever astronomical metaphor is agreeable -- a fascinating perspective is often formed...
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Are sacrifices worth it? (3/6/21)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 own, as necessary in a fast-moving, instant gratification world...
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The Bible and snow (2/20/21)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 how you were reared...
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OPINION: My unusual connection with Rush Limbaugh (2/19/21)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 to an all-news format...
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The 'Why Me, Lord?' composer retires (2/6/21)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 difficult to spell...
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Jesus and conventional wisdom (1/23/21)"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...
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Jesus, Felix and me (1/9/21)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...
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Reflecting on priorities at Christmas (12/26/20)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 Sunday mornings, and I also had a regular Monday-to-Friday secular job...
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Persuasion is a very tall order, isn't it? (12/12/20)"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 the disciples a parable about eating...
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Failure is an option (11/28/20)Early in the fall, I challenged my Southeast students to come up with a word found in the pages of the New Testament that resonated with each of them. Most of my charges are traditional, which, in the parlance of the university, means they're between the ages of 18 and 22...
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Post Nov. 3: Churchill and the Beatitudes (11/14/20)The outcome of any presidential election brings an inevitable mixture of joy and sorrow, glee and disappointment, happiness and sadness. The news media have called the 2020 election for the challenger, turning out the incumbent. I've no wish to re-litigate the vote...
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Loss: The universal experience (10/31/20)Cutting across every demographic group, every socioeconomic status, every race, color, creed and national origin, every culture in every time, is loss. I've come to believe one of the main keys to a contented life is how we deal with loss. Although I won't waste more than a sentence on one kind of loss -- a political defeat -- surely this awaits someone on November 3 and coping strategies will be necessary for those grieving defeat...
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L'Amour, Jesus and debating (10/17/20)In the interests of complete transparency, I love the writing of the late Louis L'Amour, the American novelist whose specialty was the Old West. During the ongoing pandemic and the current fractious political climate, I enjoy the escape the North Dakota-born L'Amour, who died in 1988, provides...
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A debate worth our time (10/3/20)On Tuesday, tens of millions of Americans watched a debate between the two major party political candidates who want to serve as president for the next four years: President Donald Trump and former Vice President Joe Biden. There has been as much talk about how they talked to one another -- interruptions, name-calling, talking over one another -- as there has been about the substance of their respective positions...
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A 'fool' for grace (9/19/20)Partly as a function of age, I'm not a sound sleeper. Nature calls too often. When sleep does come, though, my dreams tend to be optimistic. Nightmares, more common early in life, are quite infrequent now. In my nocturnal state, wars are resolved, enmities are ended, pain is eased, relationships are reconciled, et al...
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Is Christianity a 'Fairness Doctrine?' (9/5/20)Over 40 years ago, I worked for awhile as an intern for National Citizens Committee for Broadcasting in Washington, D.C. Funded by Ralph Nader, the NCCB operated during a different media age -- before cable, before the Internet -- in a time in which over-the-air broadcasting held sway over America...
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Navigating COVID with Christ (8/22/20)I cannot recall a year in which there has been more worry and trepidation about returning to school. The reason for anxiety is well known. The hulking viral presence of COVID-19 looms over the start of the 2020-21 academic year. Most classes begin Monday in public and private schools. as well as at Southeast Missouri State University...
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Josh Kezer's journey of faith continues (8/8/20)Seventy-five years ago this weekend, the United States discharged an atomic bomb over Nagasaki, Japan, on Aug. 9, 1945. Within a few days, World War II was over. Twenty-six years ago this past Monday, a metaphorical bomb dropped on the life of Josh Kezer, as he was sent to the Missouri Department of Corrections on Aug. 3, 1994, after being sentenced a day earlier to 60 years in prison. Kezer's life as a free man was effectively over, or so it seemed...
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Famous men discuss death and heaven - where do you stand? (7/25/20)I listened to Dan Rather's "America" radio show on Sirius XM Tuesday, and Rather and one of his guests got into a riveting discussion about heaven. Two very old men were discussing what comes next after this life. Rather, the grizzled 88-year old former CBS newsman, is sure of heaven...
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Begging to differ (7/11/20)Setting the mail down on the dining room sideboard, I noticed the summer edition of my alma mater's magazine had arrived. The large headline on the periodical's front caused me to think the author of those words had not been a history major. "A Year Like No Other," the cover proclaimed...
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Reflections on a Confederate marker (6/27/20)The weather was warm for Dec. 29 in Israel, or so our tour guide informed us. On the day in question in 2009, we stood facing the Mediterranean Sea, as clear a body of water as I've ever seen. It was here, in Caesarea, that Pontius Pilate had his headquarters while governor of the Roman province of Judea...
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Summer reading in religion? (6/13/20)When June arrives, some folks work their way through a summer reading list. The list may be comprised of books, whether ones with physical spines or accessed via the Internet, that folks choose to peruse on vacation. The thought of a summer reading list got me thinking about books that have been important to me over the years...
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Some dark days ahead for the post-COVID church (5/30/20)If you do an internet search, you will find a number of speculative articles about what a U.S. church may look like post-COVID-19. It may be a fool's errand to guess what worship will look like once the pandemic runs its course, but I can't help myself. My thinking, admittedly, is a bit dystopian. I predict several outcomes, and I very much hope I'm wrong about all of them...
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Be wary of metaphorical religious teddy bears (5/16/20)Drawing conclusions from data should be done carefully. Folks say raw numbers don’t lie and I’d give my qualified agreement to that statement. What we do with statistics, though, can lead us to errors in thinking. ...
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Rising above unspeakable tragedy with faith (5/2/20)While filling the pulpit for a few months in a Cape Girardeau church as a pastoral retiree a few years back, I was invited to join an intrepid group of folks who came together occasionally to talk about interfaith understanding. One of my better evenings as a clergyman occurred at Christ Episcopal Church, where directed conversation happened over a meal, a repast with a dizzying variety of food from all over the world...
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Don't say we haven't been warned (4/18/20)Clad in a cloth robe, body irrevocably thinned by stage four oral cancer, the man shuffled to the bathroom behind his walker. Steadying him on the short journey was his wife of 56 years. Self-reliant and independent, he didn't want the help. Truth be told, the man was a bit brusque in his final months with his devoted spouse...
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Thinking like old Noah (4/4/20)It is surreal to drive the normally bustling streets of downtown Cape Girardeau on any given weekday. I seem to have the pavement essentially to myself. No struggling to parallel park. No circling the block hoping a space will open. Not exactly a ghost town, but I halfway expect tumbleweeds to start blowing across the road like in old movie westerns...
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Jesus eschewed social distancing (3/21/20)This past Wednesday, one of our local supermarkets set aside an hour for older people to come and shop for groceries. "Older people," in this instance, may be identified as people 60 and over. Voila! I qualified. As a member of the age demographic most vulnerable to the coronavirus, it was thoughtful for store managers to think of us chronologically advanced folks in this time of crisis...
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Money and ministry -- usually intertwined (2/22/20)In the 1980s, a former boss said something to me that is still hard to forget. Discovering my decision to leave the radio news business after a decade to go to seminary, the secular New Yorker had a facile reaction: "Oh, I hear there's good money in (the ministry)."...
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Revisiting Jefferson as President's Day nears (2/8/20)In just over a week it will be President's Day. One of the most consequential chief executives from the standpoint of religion was our third -- Thomas Jefferson. Jefferson espoused a view now memorialized in a letter, which many Americans believe is enshrined in the U.S. Constitution. It is not...
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Stay at the foot of the cross (1/25/20)In 1959, a new anthology series called "The Twilight Zone" hit the broadcast airwaves. Of all the TV I've watched in my life, and in full disclosure I saw this only much later in a re-run, Episode No. 8 ("Time Enough at Last") is a half hour that stays with me...
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Genius omissions about Jesus (1/11/20)In a little over a week, the spring semester begins at Southeast Missouri State. It's a decided privilege once again to teach a subject close to my heart -- and since you are reading this column -- perhaps close to yours as well: New Testament Literature...
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Happy Holidays? (12/28/19)It has been my privilege to teach a number of international undergraduates at Southeast Missouri State University the last eight years. I've had in my classes students from Latvia, South Korea, Nepal, Saudi Arabia, Bangladesh, China and the Philippines. I'm appreciate of their efforts to speak and write in English, the only language in which I have any degree of fluency. One of my students told me the sheer number of idioms in regular usage make understanding English difficult at times...
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Imagining a Jesus-less world (12/14/19)I tend to find good TV shows when they're just about to end. My first "Game of Thrones" episode was the finale. My wife said I missed a lot, and she got weary of explaining every plot nuance to me. Dejà vu. It seems I found the Amazon Prime series "The Man in the High Castle" at the end of its run, too. ...
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A Luddite's lament (11/30/19)Bill McClellan is a literary hero for me -- a description which no doubt would make the longtime St. Louis Post-Dispatch columnist blanch. He would hate, one would imagine, being an object of admiration to anyone. McClellan describes himself as an old-fashioned "ink-stained wretch" in an world made unrecognizable -- at least to him -- of social media and online newspapering...
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History: Military troops' secret weapon (11/16/19)It's been nearly two years that word first came that my first cousin, Brian, had been found dead in a Chicago hotel room. Brian, 15 years my junior, had been a substance abuser for a long time, since a catastrophic knee injury suffered in Air Force basic military training got him hooked on pain meds...
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A living echo (11/2/19)The other day in my New Testament class at Southeast, we were talking about the kinds of people with whom Jesus of Nazareth associated. If you are known by the company you keep, the Galilean didn't seem to care what others thought of his choices. Yes, he hung out with the disreputable...
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Keep swinging. Keep doing your job. (10/19/19)"My motto was always to keep swinging. Whether I was in a slump or feeling badly or having trouble off the field, the only thing to do was keep swinging." --"Hammering" Hank Aaron Keep swinging. Keep doing your job. Aaron, now 85, was major league baseball's all-time home run leader for 33 years...
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Beeswax (10/5/19)"It's none of your beeswax." I can't speak for Southeast Missouri. I didn't grow up here. In western Pennsylvania, though, this sentence left the mouths of many of my contemporaries as a child in the 1960s. No one ever explained its origins. We all got the idea, though...
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Being in the day (9/21/19)An email came into my inbox late last month that filled me with incredible sadness. A certain musician I'd never met had died in a car accident in northern Ohio. His name was Jared Jacobsen, the longtime organist at Chautauqua Institution in western New York state. My wife and I watched Jacobsen's instrumental mastery over most of the 40 years we've been attending Chautauqua events...
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Jesus the quarterback (9/7/19)As a teacher of New Testament in our region's largest public university, I'm acutely aware of what the text doesn't tell us about Jesus. For example, the Gospel narratives are devoid of adverbs and adjectives to describe His words. Just once it would be helpful to read, "Jesus angrily said..."...
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No more dutiful nodding (8/24/19)A Missouri colossus, not in physical size but in imputed importance, strode the stage as if inspecting troops. A bishop-of-the-moment addressed the men and women about to be ordained in the United Methodist Church and fired off questions -- part of founder John Wesley's historic questions for those entering the ministerial office...
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The feeding at Woodstock (8/10/19)I dislike crowds. This lack of affection for large groups extends to my college days when I would regularly pass up a meal (sorry, Mom and Dad for wasting your money) because lingering in a long cafeteria line seemed a bridge too far. Even today I will unsuccessfully urge my wife to move on to a different restaurant if virtually anyone is spotted in the waiting area. My flight instinct is easily triggered in seeing lots of people...
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Fear vs. Fearful (7/27/19)Even after all these years, the film "Fear Strikes Out" is hard to watch. The 1957 movie -- starring the late Anthony Perkins -- is the story of Jimmy Piersall, a baseball player of modest ability, most of it in the American League, who famously spent time in a mental institution. ...
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The lessons of Otis (7/13/19)Since the spring of 1983, it's been difficult for me to watch "The Andy Griffith Show," one of the most beloved of all television sitcoms (1960-1968). It runs continuously on TV. There is even a bible study based upon several of the episodes, one of which, entitled "Man in a Hurry," (1963) is a splendid example of taking the Christian Sabbath seriously. ...
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Time for a rummage sale (6/29/19)There is such a thing, in my opinion, as "fake news." President Trump made that phrase popular. When I think of fake news, I don't think of politics, though. My mind goes to the regular abuse made of statistics, of data, of numbers. This skewing of "the numbers" often leads to inaccurate conclusions...
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The secret of Uncle Joe (6/15/19)In a few months, I'll be 61 years old. I like this time in my life, perhaps more than any other time that has come before. Recently, I learned something that rattled my general sense of equanimity. Interested in family history, lately I've been investigating my maternal roots, ancestors I've never met but about whom bits and pieces have been shared over the years...
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Faith, according to Mark (or Samuel) (6/1/19)On the frontage of Kent Library on the Southeast Missouri State University campus, no fewer than 17 names stand as silent sentinels of literature. Nine face Academic Hall. Four are on the Baptist Student Center side of the library; four more are on the University Center side of the building. Some are well-known to virtually any reader. A few require passersby to consult Google for information...
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The power of remembering (5/18/19)The other day, I had a chance to walk through a vacant building on South Main Street in Cape -- a building that is on the National Register of Historic Places. It used to house the former B'Nai Israel synagogue. Remnants of the former congregation remain even though the worshipping community ceased operations more than a quarter-century ago. ...
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Reconsidering Einstein (5/4/19)I am a not an atheist. I am a deeply religious nonbeliever. -- Albert Einstein Much of what is generally known of Einstein, arguably western civilization's greatest genius, is that he had a shock of unruly, white hair and is responsible for science's most fascinating equation: e=mc squared. ...
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Imagine a world without religion (4/20/19)"This world would be the best of all possible worlds if there was no religion in it!" -- John Adams, letter to Thomas Jefferson, April 19, 1817. I happened upon this quote while perusing an old periodical in my university office in Carnahan Hall, notably (for trivia buffs), the oldest academic building on Southeast Missouri State University's campus. ...
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Snowplow parenting (4/6/19)Evolution doesn't need an adjective. When the word is uttered, people seem to know what is meant. Properly, though, there ought to be a modifier. Folks mean "species" evolution, the notion that all species are related and gradually change over time. ...
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Thoughts for silly times (3/23/19)Now that Lent 2019 is in full swing, I'd like to hand out some participation trophies. For those who may be unaware, a participation trophy is a crippling idea that has crept into America's national consciousness. The notion of a participation trophy could be called the spiritual equivalent of rewarding not achievement but simply "taking part," as the name implies...
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More Albert Schweitzer, please! (3/9/19)For this Lent, I'm giving up reading stories about churches and sex. I'm sick of it. Last year, Bill Hybels, whose Willow Creek congregation became a model for the largest-worshipping church in Cape Girardeau, sped up his scheduled retirement due to allegations of sexual harassment. The leadership of this Chicagoland religious organization at first defended then finally admitted Hybels' culpability...
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Methodist leaders shouldn't kick the can (2/23/19)"I don't think we can kick the can down the road and let our grandkids solve that problem." The epigram above is a familiar sentiment. Most of us will understand immediately what "kicking the can" means. To "kick the can" is a colorful and mildly critical way of describing what happens when work is delayed or deferred on a task or an issue...
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Summer of Nails (2/9/19)"Be merciful to me, O God, be merciful to me, for in you my soul takes refuge; in the shadow of your wings I will take refuge, until the destroying storms pass by." -- Psalm 57:1 For two years, I had the best pastoring job of my life -- serving two small churches in Puxico, Missouri. ...
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One who sees all (1/26/19)An old man, posture hunched by osteoporosis, makes his way down a corridor. The nurses don't know much about him, except he's a bit eccentric. They don't know what he did for a living. They don't know his accomplishments. They don't know the risks he took...
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A lesson from the death of Sears (1/12/19)With the Christmas season over, observant Christians turn their attention forward to Lent, beginning with Ash Wednesday on March 6. It's mental gymnastics to veer from Jesus' birth to dealing with death so quickly. Life is like this, though. Conversations at funeral homes sometimes include the statement: "I was just talking to him at the supermarket and here we are at his wake. Wow." Although we know better, we somehow expect that people will go on living indefinitely...
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Old job for the new year (12/29/18)I'm reluctant for these holidays to end. They must, and they will, but if they could linger awhile into the new year, it'd be all right with me. We all go back to work, we put away the lights, we stow the detritus of Christmas and we make ready to re-board the fast-moving train of normal, everyday life. Because things slowed down over these past couple of weeks, getting back on life's locomotive is akin to a giant leap while standing still...
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And a little child shall lead them (12/15/18)Apologies to Charles Dickens as his classic words are amended here: "It was the best of people. It was the worst of people." The best: A young girl, probably no more than eight years of age, approaches the Salvation Army holiday station being manned by my wife and myself in Cape. ...
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Respecting, really respecting, others' beliefs (12/1/18)The late Marvel Comics legend Stan Lee, creator of the Fantastic Four and other superheroes, is reported to have said the following: "I don't have inspiration. I only have ideas. Ideas and deadlines." Lee's words describe my situation with this column. What follows isn't inspired, but it is an idea. And I have a deadline set by the newspaper...
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Three men and Thanksgiving (11/17/18)This Thursday is Thanksgiving. Our family will spend it the way most who read this column will -- immersed in the smells of the feast to be enjoyed at day's end. My wife won't let me have a role in the cooking. Rarely has. Perhaps she fears the concoction I may create. Mostly, though, she sees this meal as her great annual culinary gift to our family. She's a good cook and I'm grateful. Later, we will put up the tree (live, not artificial) and hang the lights...
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Pittsburgh (11/3/18)In our ever-churning news cycle, the title of this column may not be immediately understood. Let me remind readers. One week ago, a 46-year old anti-Semitic gunman walked into a Saturday morning Shabbat service and opened fire on worshippers at Tree of Life synagogue -- mortally wounding 11 people and injuring still more...
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Moments (10/20/18)"Gloom, despair, and agony on me. Deep dark depression, excessive misery. If it weren't for bad luck, I'd have no luck at all. Gloom, despair, and agony on me." Written by late country singers Roy Clark and Buck Owens, the above lyrics were featured on the 1969-1997 long running TV show "Hee Haw." In my mind's eye, I still see four men in overalls holding moonshine jugs and singing that ditty -- all the while lamenting the cruel vicissitudes of life...
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Allegiances (10/6/18)For the third consecutive year, the St. Louis Cardinals and their many fans are watching the baseball playoffs from their respective living rooms. I've lived in Cardinal Nation for nearly 30 years, yet my baseball allegiance is elsewhere, with a mediocre team that wears black and gold uniforms and whose city is known for steelmaking and blue-collar sensibilities. Can't help it. Don't want to help it. This favoritism extends beyond baseball...
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Waiting for an alert (9/22/18)Wednesday, Oct. 3 will be a day like any other, I suspect. The British House of Commons will conduct Prime Minister's Question Time. Wednesday means I've got to get the litter boxes cleared and the garbage ready to go out. Others view Wednesday, any Wednesday, as a "wash day," a day for doing laundry. Wednesday doesn't carry with it the potential gloom of Monday, the going-back-to-work day, or Friday, the advent of a new weekend. It's an ordinary day for most...
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Connect your own dots (9/8/18)It's likely most people who read this column have never heard of the Johnson Amendment. I hadn't until a couple of weeks ago. Now, however, the president of the United States and a candidate for U.S. Senate in Missouri are calling for its repeal. What? Wait a minute! Tell me what it is first!...
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Deep and cleansing breaths (8/25/18)As a real estate agent, I'm privileged to see a lot of homes -- and there are some amazing properties in this region. As president of Cape Area Habitat for Humanity, we deal in new construction, so the problem I'm about to mention generally does not exist for our Habitat homeowners...
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Jesus and #MeToo (8/11/18)It was an unusual thing for a first-century C.E. Jewish man not to own land nor to have any descendants. Success in life in early Palestine was measured largely by those two mileposts. When it comes to Jesus of Nazareth, however, this is apparently the case. Landless, childless, and largely penniless. Ergo, before he opened his mouth to teach, before performing any of his miracles or healings, Jesus would have already been regarded as a bit of oddity by the standards of the time...
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Making goodness attractive (7/28/18)An interesting way to read the Bible is to pay attention to recurring numbers in its pages. Numerology devotees will point to the numbers three (Trinity), four (Four horsemen of the apocalypse in Revelations chapter 6), seven (Seven seals of Revelation), 12 (12 tribes of Israel; 12 apostles), and 40 (40 days and nights of fasting for Jesus; 40 years of Israelite wandering in the wilderness). ...
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Father's Day nap time (6/16/18)It's Father's Day. I don't want a card or a gift or lunch from my loved ones. I want to tell my wife and daughters to save their money. I mean it. You want to give me something? How about a nap? As the start of the seventh decade of my life fast approaches, I'm more interested these days in conserving my energy. Midday sleep helps. I'm also more engaged in directly helping others than I've been at any previous time in my life...
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Regrets and doubts (6/2/18)Eric Liddell was the Olympian from Scotland who declined to enter the 100-meter dash in the 1924 Games because a qualifying heat was scheduled on Sunday. Liddell later became a missionary to China and was killed there in 1944. On the day that the 100-meter dash was held in Paris, Liddell is sitting in the stands with a friend. ...
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Re-thinking sleep (5/19/18)My dear wife bought me a "smart" watch last year for Christmas. The gizmo keeps track of lots of things: e.g., how much water is consumed, how many flights of stairs are traversed, in addition to keeping the time. One feature evaluates the quality of sleep -- how much of it, in other words, was motionless. Given my age and assorted medical conditions, my nighttime siesta is often restless. Getting three hours of unbroken R.E.M. dozing is a better-than-average night for me...
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Considering Cosby (5/5/18)A generation ago, well before the events of 9/11, my wife and I happened to stay at a rustic motel in southern Maine. It was early summer; the weather was beautiful. We sat our luggage down, got oriented to our room, and turned on the television for a time of rest before dinner. ...
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Time to think like kids (4/21/18)"So the Lord changed His mind about the harm which He said He would do to His people." -- Exodus 32:14 I've been privileged to teach the Old Testament for the last six years at SEMO. I enjoy exposing my students to texts, like the epigram above, that they never knew existed. God's mind can be changed. What? Whoa, Nelly! Doesn't that fly in the face of the image of an immutable God, made known in Christ, whom the New Testament tells us is the "same yesterday, today, and forever"? (Hebrews 13:8)...
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Come, you strippers and Sunday School teachers (4/7/18)The headline to this column is actually not my creation. Instead it's the title of a recent essay by Chad Bird, a Texas author and speaker. I've never heard him talk but have read articles by him on Facebook. Bird's musings on faith and life are easy to consume and often quite compelling...
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Honk if you're happy (3/24/18)The title to this column, if the editor who vets my missive was kind enough to use the one I suggested, was also seen at the corner of Broadway and Clark streets in Cape this past week. The message was on a chalkboard at knee-level and despite my increasingly poor eyesight, it was easy to read...
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Caution: Champing Ahead (3/10/18)I would love to get Bob Farr's take on champing -- a word that is yet unfamiliar on our shores but which has real meaning in England, where so many of our religious customs are derived. Farr is the bishop of the United Methodist Church in Missouri and wrote a book a few years ago with an apocalyptic title: "Renovate or Die." His overarching theme is that American churches are too focused on maintaining the congregational status quo. ...
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Feeling OK about saying 'no' (2/24/18)At a local pet supply store the other day, I bought some "healthy diet" food for our elderly cat. Entering my data into the credit card reader, a question popped up on the screen. We've all experienced this. Quite often the question is: "Is $xx.xx the amount you agree to pay?" Or, less frequently: "Do you want cash back?" At this store, the query that popped up surprised me and, if I'm being brutally honest, irritated me a bit: "Do you want to save a homeless pet?"...
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Tabasco and Dr. King (2/10/18)Avery Island, Louisiana, is known for one thing: Tabasco sauce. The sauce is made from Tabasco peppers harvested locally and produced by the McIlhenny Co., an enterprise established in 1868. It's still family-owned and operated and is one of the few U.S. companies under royal warrant to do business with Queen Elizabeth II's Buckingham Palace...
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Mastering anger (1/27/18)"Why are you angry? ... Sin is lurking at the door; its desire is for you, but you must master it." (Genesis 4:6-7) Biblical Cain is a sad figure -- all the more so because so many of those reading this column can recognize his anger. We've felt it. ...
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The stalemate (1/13/18)"Star Trek" debuted on NBC-TV in 1966, and was created by the late Gene Roddenberry. "The Orville," inspired by "Star Trek," began its first season on Fox this past September, and was created by Seth MacFarlane, who also stars in the series. Both sci-fi series feature a crew on an intergalactic starship facing regular adventures with other cultures in the universe...
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Hoping we remain charitable (12/30/17)In the mid-1980s, right around the end of a year, I recall hanging around one afternoon at the church office after work. The pastor ducked his head in the doorway and asked the secretary, "Did it come yet?" "No, not yet," was the reply. Shoulders slumped, the pastor trudged back to his office...
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Revisiting mistletoe (12/16/17)While waiting in the infusion center of Southeast Cancer Center the other day, these words were overheard: "Won't be seeing much mistletoe this year, I imagine." The remark was meant as a commentary on our culture in the year of our Lord 2017. To be fair, mistletoe isn't something I've seen much in recent years. We do hear about it, though, in the ubiquitous crooning of Bing Crosby:...
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The business of helping others (12/2/17)There is no catch, says Jerry Kraynick. I suppose I've lived too long and therefore become deeply suspicious of any absolutist, open-ended, no terms-and-conditions statement. As may be the case with you, too many people have blown smoke in my face in my lifetime. I recognize the smell from a ways off now. Life also teaches there are rare individuals who actually mean what they say. Kraynick seems to be one of those people...
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Guard the name (11/19/17)When the hearing of certain names discourages you -- Roy Moore, Louis C.K., Kevin Spacey all come to mind immediately ----then it's time to think of different names. Names that uplift. Billy Graham is one such name. The renowned revival evangelist, famous since the 1940s, turned 99 years old on Nov. ...
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A pre-Thanksgiving plea (11/5/17)In the words of Harry Truman, the only U.S. president to hail from Missouri, Winston Churchill "saved the free world." Historians generally have been kind to Churchill, who was long considered washed up by his own Conservative Party before rising to power. ...
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Harvey and Bathsheba (10/22/17)The headline to this column may seem like piling on to a famous man's disgrace. Harvey Weinstein is ruined and perhaps justifiably so. The Hollywood mogul has been accused by actress after actress for inappropriate behavior, for using his position of power to intimidate ingenues into sex...
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Leaving Las Vegas (10/8/17)This week, for the first time in nearly 59 years of life, my socks matched perfectly coming out of the dryer. Wait! Keep reading! Nearly a dozen socks found their pair without one stray left over. Never happened before; may never happen again. My sock dilemma has been a mystery that has long confounded and befuddled. It's a silly happenstance. Something to laugh about with a co-worker at the office copier. Trivial, of no importance...
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Become people of prayer (9/24/17)One week ago this past Friday, my wife and I left a three-day conference in St. Louis' Central West End. As we were leaving the parking garage, our car pointing toward Southeast Missouri, we heard the news that a judge had found a white former St. Louis police officer not guilty in the shooting death of an African-American man in 2011. ...
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September 11 (9/10/17)Sept. 11 is tomorrow, and some may see it as just another Monday. Some who live in this part of the country also may think of it as Day Three of the SEMO District Fair, featuring the Heartland Idol competition. Despite the passage of years, many also know it as Patriot Day, an indelible red-letter day on the calendar...
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What to do with hate (8/27/17)A former colleague of mine brought a Ku Klux Klan robe to a meeting years ago. It wasn't his but had belonged to an ancestor. The speaker was attempting to illustrate the roots of racism and due to the choices made by extended family, unwittingly those choices touch our lives. ...
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Understanding the eclipse (8/13/17)In just over a week, on Monday, Aug. 21, at 1:20 p.m. CDT, an eclipse will occur in Southeast Missouri. We are directly in the path of this celestial event, which is confined to 14 U.S. states, including the Show-Me State. The eclipse will cut a diagonal path through America's midsection, and the total darkness should last in our area about a minute and 45 seconds...
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Real-world wisdom (7/30/17)"The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom," (Proverbs 9:10a). There is more to the epigram above, so what you read there is a bit out of context. Still, there is enough in the first 10 words of that verse to dig in for some real-world life application...
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Tomorrow (7/16/17)In the last scene of the iconic television series "The West Wing," as President Jed Bartlet is flying back to his native New Hampshire after completing two tumultuous terms in office, his wife asks him a question. "What are you thinking about?" His answer: "Tomorrow."...
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Patriotism and God (7/2/17)Our house is sporting patriotic bunting for the first time in our lives this year. My wife and I have talked in the past about festooning our porch to announce Independence Day weekend, but somehow we've always forgotten to do it. This year, we didn't...
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Pet learnings (6/18/17)We have four pets, and each one has some form of ailment and/or disability. Our dog, our longest-tenured animal, no longer can hear and has what the veterinarian calls doggy dementia. (That's not the term he used, but it's the essential translation.) She walks in circles, gets stuck behind furniture and can't figure out how to extricate herself...
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When you're smiling (6/4/17)When giving written examinations to students, it's often fair to offer some multiple-choice questions. Here's one. Try to get the correct answer. (Broad hint: The correct answer is C.) When a stranger smiles at you in the street, you should: A) Assume he's drunk...
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Fighting fear (5/21/17)In Cardinals' country, my household is an isolated pocket of support for a team and a game few in this area of the world care about much. To wit: the Pittsburgh Penguins, who are embroiled this weekend in the NHL Eastern Conference finals. The Penguins recall memories of my dad and me attending a couple of hockey games during my childhood at the now-razed Civic Arena. ...
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Personal relationship? (5/7/17)My dear wife texted me the other day with a link to an article. Her message accompanying the link read, "I think you will agree." Boy, she knows me well. It was a profound piece of writing, so I looked the writer up on the Internet. Chad Bird describes himself as an author and speaker who says, "The Gospel is for broken, messed-up people like myself."...
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Relationships (4/23/17)Never dismiss the importance of a relationship. A word of clarification here. There are two basic kinds of leaders in the world today: transactional leaders and relational leaders. Those who follow the first model can find early success but tend to burn their bridges quickly because in the end, they don't care about people...
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Remembering a rebel (4/9/17)Exactly half a millennium ago, the world changed. A relatively obscure Roman Catholic monk, vexed by the activity of Johannes Tetzel -- a seller of "indulgences" to the faithful -- posted a document on the door of Castle Church in Wittenberg, Germany...
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A Luddite speaks (3/26/17)A friend of mine, an admirer of Jesus and a pleasant but persistent critic of the Christian faith, likes to say I believe in Jesus with a halo. That's correct. I do. I am persuaded of the church's (small "c") consistent teaching that Jesus was fully man and fully God. Can't prove it, but I'm satisfied of its veracity...
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Lone words of a prophet (3/12/17)"You stay in school, you college boy. You don't want to end up like this." Those prescient, even prophetic words were uttered by a machinist at Pittsburgh Des Moines Steel, a company that no longer exists, subsumed long ago by a much larger industrial concern, Chicago Bridge and Iron. The callow, inexperienced 18-year old who heard those words is now somewhat more mature and living in Southeast Missouri...
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Compassion is vital to society (2/26/17)"Truly I tell you, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers and sisters of mine, you did for me" -- Matthew 25:45 NIV The epigram is a quote preserved by the gospel of Matthew and has been used to fuel many works of justice, compassion and love on behalf of the poor and the marginalized...
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Birthday boys (2/12/17)Abraham Lincoln and Charles Darwin probably were never in the same room. Both of these men, one the 16th U.S. president, the other, creator of the theory of evolution, were born on the same day in 1809. Their common natal date is today, Feb. 12. Darwin was world famous before Lincoln. The former's landmark work, "On the Origin of the Species," was published to notable acclaim (and sales) in November 1859. Lincoln would be elected president a year later...
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A civil tongue (1/29/17)Keeping a civil tongue in your head is easier said than done. Thanks to social media, principally Facebook, each of us can now express virtually unfiltered thoughts to the world. In the past few days, I have unfollowed several of my FB friends -- good people all, but who seem to follow the principle of "ready-fire-aim" when it comes to expressing their thoughts...
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Nature vs. nurture (1/15/17)Recently, a friend and I have been texting about the actions of University of Oklahoma running back Joe Mixon early one morning in 2014. A horrifying video was released just last month that clearly shows the incident in a campus deli in Norman, Oklahoma. You can call it up instantly on YouTube...
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New year eccentricity (1/1/17)I've never used this space to promote a book and will not start now. I am intrigued, however, by a book from an eccentric author who is just this side of brilliant. Leonard Sweet, who advertises himself as a Christian futurist, is out with his latest, "The Bad Habits of Jesus: Showing Us the Way to Live Right in a World Gone Wrong."...
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Instruments for the Lord (12/18/16)There's a story told, the origins of which I'm not familiar. It's one of those tales that has been difficult to forget. Some things you hear and five minutes later struggle to remember any of the details. Others seem to cling to the mind's membranes, refusing to let go. This one is the latter. It goes like this:...
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One day at a time (12/4/16)I've been corresponding this fall with a young man in state prison whose letters have been deeply uplifting. To protect his privacy, I will reveal nothing further, except to say he has a desire to keep his life pointed toward Christ once he is released. ...
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Regrets (11/20/16)"Regrets, I've had a few ..." The late Frank Sinatra sang about regrets in the otherwise lamentable "My Way," a tune celebrating self-satisfied arrogance that even the legendary crooner himself disliked, according to his former intimates. Regret is feeling sad, repentant or disappointed over things that have happened that still cause us pain...
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Political sorbet (11/6/16)"I don't know much about cameras." It was 1980. Capitol Hill. I was on spring break in my final semester of college. After having spent part of the previous summer working as an intern in Washington, D.C., I had returned to look for a job after graduation...
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Refusing to believe in easy (10/23/16)"Rabbi, who sinned, this man or his parents, that he was born blind?" (John 9:2). When you have a family member with a serious illness, everything else in your life becomes insignificant by comparison: your job, your hobbies/interests, your own health. Yet you persevere -- not because it's the right thing to do, but because you can't help your loved one by stopping...
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Being present (10/9/16)I think the day may be coming when people no longer need worry about getting up on Sunday morning and coming to worship. Thanks to amazing advances in technology, "going to church" could become an anachronism. Logging into church may be more like it. ...
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Looking for courage (9/25/16)To hear selected members of the media tell it, tomorrow night's U.S. presidential debate will be the most watched event in television history. Classic hyperbole. I'm guessing more people would have seen the 1969 moon landing. I'm thinking more people were sitting in front of their TVs on 9/11...
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Fifteen years (9/11/16)It is surprising that this day is not an official day of national observance. It is vital to be called to collective remembrance, no matter how much it hurts. Fifteen years ago. Today's high-school students either were not alive yet or were too young to remember. Nineteen men. Four planes. America was changed irrevocably...
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Doomsday (8/28/16)Years ago, my wife and I were paying our bill at a restaurant, one that accepts personal checks. My wife made out the check and handed it to the cashier, who immediately noticed the check number: 666. This number, inevitably falling after 665, is best known for being the so-called mark of the beast in the New Testament book of Revelation. The clerk looked at my wife and said -- this is a paraphrase (it's been a long time) -- "Hey, 6-6-6, what do you think? Should we be worried?"...
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An Rx for the negative (8/14/16)It is now less than 90 days before the United States picks its next president. A cacophony of polling reveals the two major party candidates are widely disliked and unpopular with the electorate. The victor may be the one who successfully can make the most mud stick against the other. Oppo-research, unearthing dirt against your opponent, may be the one indispensable part of political activity at the highest levels...
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Defiance (7/31/16)Defiance is refusing to play Pokemon Go, even when your spouse and children seem devoted to the mobile phone-based game. In recent days, I've seen folks -- and not just high-school and college students -- aimlessly walking down the street, heads down, trying to capture a Pokemon, or doing battle at a "gym," which in this scenario usually is not a place where athletic activity is occurring...
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An ode to Thursday (7/17/16)"Life should be a little nuts. Otherwise it's just a bunch of Thursdays strung together." A profound sentence from an otherwise-forgettable movie by Kevin Costner ("Rumor Has It," 2005). Thursday has a humdrum quality to it. Just about everybody works on Thursday. There are no popular songs or restaurants called "Thank God it's Thursday." Friday, by contrast, is potentially exciting. Friday gives entree to the weekend when most, but not all, are enjoying a life away from their jobs...
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'A rose by any other name' (7/3/16)Dear reader, I'm sick of bad news. Like weeds that grow up between the cracks in pavement, the negative never seems to go away. When you pull out a weed or use a lawn trimmer, the offending detritus comes back anyway. It's just a matter of time. West Virginia flooding, Orlando nightclub massacre, plummeting stock values after Brexit -- you name it, weeds are ubiquitous. They're everywhere...
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Father's Day thoughts (6/19/16)Dads fill several necessary roles, but one of the bullet points in our job description is that of defender. We defend our children. When that defense becomes excessive, we become helicopter parents, hovering over our children, fearful of any misstep and, without realizing it, we effectively hobble our kids for life...
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A lesson from Israel (6/5/16)I've had the good fortune to go to Israel with my family -- a life-changing eight days in 2009 overseen by a guide who was able to give us his full attention. Jerusalem, Nazareth, Bethlehem, Jericho and Masada are all indelibly etched into my memories...
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Looking for wisdom (5/22/16)Most of us find wisdom in unexpected places. Some years ago, an experienced pastor, in an attempt to console my wounded spirit, offered up this gem: "Jeff, some people just aren't going to like you. And no matter what you do, that won't change." I've taken comfort in those words on numerous occasions...
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Having the courage to show up (5/8/16)Memories are tricky. Recalling a past event or conversation in your life is, at best, an approximation of what actually happened. Although not always consciously done, our minds amend, exaggerate and sometimes even invent details to fit the exigencies of the moment...
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Next (4/24/16)I remember where I was when I heard the news in late 2012. While I was wedging my car into a spot along Main Street in Cape Girardeau, using my best approximation of parallel parking, the cellphone went off. I was trying to be attentive to the traffic bustling past my vehicle, and the voice was familiar...
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Words to remember (4/12/16)As my wife and I left a certain chain restaurant in Cape Girardeau the other day, two servers bade us farewell using an identical secular blessing: “Have a good one.” The thought occurred that the eatery may train its employees to say those words to departing customers. Maybe. Maybe not...