Feature Columnists

Here you see one of North America's small butterflies. Its range extends from parts of Mexico at the south, across most of the United States and deep into Canada. This is a pearl crescent butterfly. It has a wingspan of about 1 3/4 inch. The dark reddish brown, varying orange and parchment white...

The most critical choices you will make in your life are not the big ones. Big decisions include college, who to marry, what job to take and where to live. However, the small accumulating actions end up having the most significant impact on the scope and direction of your life...

This week, I got to tour a sweet potato farm. Not a commercial one; one that is on 10 acres of land, with sweet potatoes grown on 1 acre of it, one where a person comes along and picks up the produce after it's been dug by machinery; one at which a real hand touches each little potato...

Have you wondered what to do, at various times? You just couldn't seem to arrive at an answer? No matter where you've searched, what facts you've discovered, or what other solutions you've found, you still can't seem to arrive at an answer. We may consult a priest, a counselor, a spiritual mentor...

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...

I took this photo June 18 while on a short hike around a local lake. A young girl had noticed several tiny "frogs" hopping on the damp shaded ground. In a short time she caught one and showed it to me. She had captured a baby toad. It could easily sit within the circumference of a dime. ...

Can you guess why this bluegill is so dark? Do you think it is because the pond from which it came had muddy water? I caught this bluegill and several others June 12 in clear water. Only this 9-incher and one other the same size were black. Both were males. ...

I recently started a big new project and found myself feeling overwhelmed by the number of things I wanted to do for it, along with the number of other things in life that needed my more immediate attention. It felt like there was no way I could get it all done and do it well while also enjoying...

You need a distraction-free life. A life riddled with distractions is a life doomed for disaster. In 2019 over 3,100 people were killed, and distracted drivers in the United States injured about 424,000 people. We are living in an age of distraction. ...

Do you live in a house or do you occupy a home? The word, home, has a soft and comforting sound to it. There is a question that we can ask ourselves and that is "What is the difference?"Britanica.com says that "a house is a building in which someone lives." A home can be any location that a person...

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...

I found these little critters while preparing dirt to plant gourds along the garden fence. One orange/brown adult centipede and a clutch of probably 30 creamy white babies were hiding in a small space under a dirt clod about the size of my fist. The dirt clod crumbled. The adult quickly ran for...

If you have ever had a relationship with anyone, you have experienced conflict. Children argue on the playground. There are people in your life whose relationships were never the same because of disagreements. Unfortunately, we will never be conflict-free on this side of heaven. But we can learn to...

This week, there are a few disparate thoughts leaving their impressions on me, and I want to share them. Now that they're all here in one place, I'm realizing they deal with trust. Maybe one of them will speak to you, too. On getting older: My friend Lilly said it the other day, and as soon as she...

This is a native deer mouse. The orange/brown flank on this mouse distinguishes it from its relative, the white-footed deer mouse. Both mice have white undersides and white feet, but the white-footed deer mouse is gray. I took this photo the morning of May 20. The deer mouse was moving its newborn...

Living, to live, to have life. What do those words and phrases mean to you? We think we know what living means to us, but does everyone have the same expectations about life? Does living simply mean "drawing our breath?" Well, that is probably the first and most important part of the...

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...

I was out scouting with a couple friends early on the morning of May 22, after heavy rain crossed Southeast Missouri the day before. We spotted this adult bullfrog in wet grass and approached it from three sides. I thought this would cause the frog to remain in place, and it did. One of my friends...

My daughter and I recently ran a half-marathon together. It was her first half-marathon and longest distance she has run. We had a perfect day for running. The morning began in the mid-30s, and as the sun rose, the temperatures hovered in the mid-40s. We ran the route together and just had a great...

With the students getting out of school and the warm weather, I've started to feel the summer state of mind lately. It's a beautiful call to rest, to be free and to be present, the kind of presence children have because they don't make plans and don't have items on an agenda to check off; without a...

This bird surprised me May 15, while I was at Mingo Wildlife Refuge. It was flying here and there around my truck as I stopped momentarily to enjoy the scenery. I think the butterfly or grasshopper it was chasing must have gone under my truck. This bird is a great crested flycatcher. Suddenly, it...

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...

Does life often seem to get you down, cut you off or seem to be more than you can deal with? Most have been hurt by something another person has said to us, at one time or another. How did we respond to those injured feelings of disappointment, dashed-confidence, and rejection?...

This bright green insect is called a six-spotted tiger beetle. It is native to North America. After wintering in the ground as a small gray larva, the six-spotted tiger beetle emerges in spring when the ground warms and wildflowers begin to bloom. This insect can run fast and fly fast. It is...

This past weekend, I got to lead the Confirmation retreat for the eighth graders at our church. At it, we talked about what it means to become an adult in the Church, to discover the unique ways we as individuals are gifted to serve the larger body, a discovery process that can start at...

My best friend's mother joined the church I serve. Of course, anytime anyone joins the church, it is exciting. She is my best friend's mom. So her joining was extra special. In my church, people walk an aisle at the end of the service and tell the pastor they want to join the church. The pastor,...

I took this photo the late evening of April 30. The weather was stormy and a tornado watch had been issued for much of Southeast Missouri. I knew where a litter of red fox pups was hanging out, and after work I headed there. The wind was gusting to near 20 miles per hour, and I used the wind to my...

Have you really, I mean really wondered, what you are like inside. If we've never had the desire or the need to know our real self, then we're maybe fortunate, perhaps not. Few have known exactly what life holds for them or what their calling is. Jim, a farmer, had just finished harvesting the last...

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...

I captured this image Saturday morning, April 23. This is a fine color combination that came together nicely at the edge of my driveway. A native butterweed plant (which can grow quickly in spring to nearly 2 feet tall) had been knocked down by the push mower a few days earlier, but was not cut...

Simon of Cyrene's life was interrupted. He traveled more than 180 miles from North Africa to Jerusalem. Unfortunately, the New Testament does not give us his backstory nor tell us why Simon was in Jerusalem. What we know is that the reason he came to Jerusalem was interrupted. An interruption that...

There's a line from one of Taylor Swift's earliest songs "Cold as You" that's been echoing in my head this Easter season. It's a sad song about a boy who takes in a relationship but doesn't reciprocate the love he is given, and the line I've been thinking of says, "And I know you wouldn't have told...

This is a juvenile great horned owl estimated to be close to 2 months old. My biologist son took this photo April 12. Great horned owls, along with bald eagles, are the earliest of birds to lay their eggs in Southeast Missouri. Because they are large bodied birds, they are able to lay their eggs in...

Everyone likes to have another chance. We like the idea of having a fresh new start that promises renewal, one that's full of hope and bright assurances. Those are the guarantees of Easter, the celebration that's upon us again. Christians believe, that, on Easter, Jesus died and arose from the dead...

"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...

These are the springtime flowers of the red buckeye tree. It is native to Southeast Missouri woodlands. The leaves and blooms will come forth at the same time. The red of the blossoms and vibrant green of the leaves are opposites on the color wheel. This means they contrast one another very well....

It is easy to assume that others have understood you. Assuming your spouse heard you can often lead to a longer and louder discussion. You can assume your gas tank is full only to be greeted by the "get gas dummy" light. When have you assumed something about a friend only to be sorely disappointed....

Rejoice. It's a word that's been changing my life. I used to lament when musicians entered their 30s; it seems like their music often departs from the soul-searching questions of the deep and instead, gets happy. They are content with life, and their art reflects that. ...

Spring is a glorious time. Woodland wildflowers begin to take their turns blooming. From low growing spring beauty and Dutchman's breeches to the bushes of red buckeyes and fragrant sumac, wonderful new life is breathed into the forest. Most of us though haven't seen too many close up flower buds...