News & Articles
A Sister’s Love
My wife has many traits that I admire, but two of her greatest are her strength and her empathy. Like her father, my wife strikes up conversations with strangers easily and manages to put most people at ease. I was reminded of this recently when we were in a local appliance business in northern Wisconsin…
The Singing Wilderness
Every summer, I spend time with one of my favorite authors, Sigurd Olson. For me, Olson is a guide, a person whose words transport into the power of wilderness. Olson spent his life exploring wilderness, becoming one of the leading spokespersons in the drive to preserve it. Living from 1899 to 1982, Olson grew up…
Wishing For A Do-over
Ever since I was a child, I’ve had the wish that everyone would be given at least one “do-over” in life. When I was young, I’m pretty sure that was my response to tragedy. I was only ten years old when the janitor for the church where my father was pastor was seriously injured in…
Shifting The Focus
The challenge of the ancient prophets isn’t that they seem out of date, but rather that they speak so forcefully to our current situation. I was reminded of this earlier this week when a group I belong to directed me for my morning reading to Isaiah 58: 1-12 in the Hebrew Bible. If I was…
On The Road To The Center
I was saddened to hear about the one thousand, three hundred Muslim pilgrims who died while on the Hajj in Mecca, Saudi Arabia, because of the heat, but I was not completely surprised. Modern travel has lessened the sacrifices demanded of pilgrims, but over the centuries, men and women have always faced danger, sickness, and…
Listen Up
Before I spoke at a church last weekend, an elderly man on a walker approached me for a short conversation. Learning that I would be talking about interviews that I had conducted for a book, this ninety-six-year-old shared some of his stories—beginning with his experiences in the Great Depression. It was a brief encounter, but,…