Sudden Uprising
There are times (more than I care to admit) that the “negative Hetzner” in me rises up to exasperating heights. Like a few days ago, when I heard one news affiliate’s mission statement and laughed out loud. The negative old me thought, “A universal…
Reminiscing
This past Saturday God called home a dear and faith-filled lady whom I had the privilege of pastoring. She was born in 1923. She suffered from dementia. Due to the pandemic, she was separated from her family during her last days on earth. Even if this is…
Loosening Up
Over the past two Sundays, I have seen a few faces in worship that I have not seen in the sanctuary for months. I also keep hearing about more and more people I know who have been vaccinated. And restaurants are back up to 50% capacity. I think things…
Sunshine, Lollipops and …
You may not be old enough to remember this hit song by Leslie Gore from 1963, but the words are still great to sing, “My life is sunshine, lollipops and ... Everything that’s wonderful is sure to come your way. …” While I am not quite sure about the…
February Gleanings
No, on Tuesday I did not feel bad celebrating my birthday in the pool at Hilton Head while Detroit was digging out from 10 inches of snow … yet believe it or not, there is a little sadness in our hearts about missing what is hopefully the biggest snow of…
Bad Decisions
How often have you made a decision that later came back to bite you? No, I am not talking about our decision to get our second COVID vaccine yesterday. 15 hours later my arm still feels fine, I am great, and I am certain that it was the right thing to…
Wednesday Surprises
A week ago Wednesday I received a phone from someone I hadn’t seen in a few years. A little way into the conversation he said to me, “Pastor, I would like you to conduct my funeral.” Now, usually when someone says something like this to me, I reach for…
PAN – dem – IC
I found myself edging toward a panic mode this week … not actually to the point of having “wild unthinking behavior” but becoming stagnant while looking at all that needed to be done in a very short period of time. Of Course, the longer I hesitated, the…
VAC’ … 1, 2, 3
We arrived at Meijer’s yesterday afternoon, ten minutes prior to our 3:45 appointment, and the line extended to the back of the store. There we met a friendly employee putting blue tape on the floor to be sure that everyone in the ever-extending line…
Good News – Bad News
As a Christian, I believe God has called us to see that there is good news in every bad news story. Take, for example the basketball teams of our two primary state universities. Both have great coaches who succeeded winning coaches, and both enter each…