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January is about to begin… Augh! For a lot of people, it’s the worst month of the year. There is the cold, the snow, the darkness, the post holiday blues...and did I say anything about the cold? Honestly, I don’t mind January. I enjoy sitting by the fireplace with a book or my laptop. I have a teenage son who takes care of the snow. Life slows down after the holidays and deep winter is a good season for me to gear up for spring. But January is also a reflection and planning m

It was the day before Christmas Eve and she was trying to finish up some last minute shopping at the mall. The kids tugged her towards the line to make requests from Santa. After a 25 minute wait, they were finally able to sit on his lap and tell him their dream gifts for the year. Mom smiled knowingly, as she had already wrapped most of those items. On the way out of the mall, they passed an elderly woman who was gently ringing a red-handled silver bell standing beside

The world has been afraid that this was coming. When I was in Korea three years ago, it was interspersed as an impending dread in casual conversations. Now it has become a reality. North Korea, already possessors of nuclear weaponry, has now successfully sent a rocket into space, demonstrating it’s ability to send a nuclear payload to just about any part of the world. Several other countries have that capability, but none are as ill trusted as North Korea...not yet, anyway. I

I have to admit, I loved Christmas as a kid…but for all the wrong reasons. Yes, excitement was in the air. I could feel the “Christmas magic” all the Hallmark Channel specials this time of the year talk about. But for me, it was based on the anticipation of “getting”. It shouldn’t have been, but that’s what it was for me. Every year we went to church and my parochial school put on a program where the focus was on Jesus’ birth. But I think most of us were just looking forward

With Thanksgiving behind us, Christmas is coming! Every year around this time I get questions from moms and dads asking for my opinion on Santa Claus: “Did you tell your kids there is a Santa?” Some are very adamant: “Santa Claus is a replacement of Jesus in this secularized society and just another way of spreading the materialism of this age.” Others see the fable as harmless delightful fantasy: “I believed in Santa when I was a kid and it didn’t hurt me! It’s just a

I grew up hunting with my dad, who grew up hunting with his dad, and the tradition went back generations. So for Christmas when I was 12 I received my first real gun. I had already taken the hunter’s safety course, had lots of practice with BB guns and a pellet gun, as well as plenty of practice shooting times and lessons from my dad using his guns. But this was special. This was a real shot gun that I could use for duck and pheasant hunting, and it was all mine. My dad bough

A couple of days ago, two guys walked into the Open Pantry on the corner of Pflaum and Stoughton Road in Madison, Wisconsin (a convenience store I’ve been in a few times). One man diverted the cashier’s attention by asking for directions, while the other slipped behind the counter and into a small office where he grabbed a pile of bills the woman had been counting. As the men were about to leave, she glanced into her office and saw the money was missing and began to demand th

For what will you be remembered? Medieval Europeans often gave permanent names to high profile people who had built a reputation for themselves. Charles the Simple was the son of Louis the Stammerer. They called him this because of his policy of making concessions to Viking invaders rather than fighting. Then there was Louis the Sluggard, noted for his self-indulgence. He ruled from 986 to 987 over the Franks. Ethelred the Unready (968-1016) was so called because of his inabi

Should natural disasters be considered the judgement of God? There are some who argue, “Absolutely!” and others, “Of course not!” So which is it? It’s hard to deny that God used natural disasters in Scripture to get people’s attention, both in bringing judgement and in encouraging repentance. In Amos 4, Yahweh spoke to Israel through Amos and told them that he had sent hunger, famine, floods, storms and earthquakes to get them to return to him. Jesus said that in the end time

This campaign season is getting old, isn’t it? Could you imagine if we lived in one of the swing states? Here in Illinois, the state is so overwhelmingly democratic that republican presidential candidates hardly have a chance. We see some commercials that are nationally televised, but not like places such as Ohio, Virginia, Florida, Iowa, or even Wisconsin. In some of the more contested counties of those states, campaign commercials are constant...and those communities just w

An angel appears at a faculty meeting and tells the dean that in return for his unselfish and exemplary behavior, the Lord will reward him with his choice of infinite wealth, wisdom or beauty. Without hesitating, the dean selects infinite wisdom. “Done!” says the angel, and disappears in a cloud of smoke and a bolt of lightning. Now, all heads turn toward the dean, who sits surrounded by a faint halo of light. At length, one of his colleagues whispers, “Say something.” The de

My wife is a flight attendant and one of the perks of her job is that she gets to see many parts of the world, albeit, in short periods of time. She will sometimes have an extended layover (24 hours or so) in an interesting place and have the chance to get in a little sightseeing. On some occasions, if I’m able to take the time off and if there are available seats on the plane, I will travel with her and take advantage of the flight and the free accommodations in whatever 4 s

As a church, we are not involved politically. We believe that no church or religious organization should dictate to the government it’s policies and that the government is not to dictate to any church it’s activities. As a pastor, I do not speak out on topics that are solely political in nature, and I have never endorsed a candidate for office or encouraged people to vote for any candidate or in support of any political party. But there are issues of morality and Biblical tru

Russel Cornwell used to tell the story of a Persian named Ali Hafed. He was a wealthy farmer who had fertile lands with orchards, grain fields and gardens that yielded faithfully year after year. Hafed was a contented man, known throughout his region as having it all. Then a traveler from the east began to talk to him of the value of diamonds. He said, “If you owned a diamond the size of your thumb, you could purchase the whole county. If you owned a diamond mine, you could b

I made a decision almost three decades ago that has taken the difficulty out of a lot of other decisions since. I decided to marry Linda. Since that decision, most of my other decisions in and around the house are pretty well taken care off. I only need to ask myself, what would be better for our marriage? So even though my desk is usually pretty cluttered at work, I’m neat, clean, and organized at home. Why? Because Linda doesn’t really care what my desk at work looks like,

There are times in your life when you come across a need that appears to be so overwhelming, so deep, so devastating, and so pervasive, that you would rather turn a blind eye to it and ignore the enormity of the problem altogether. Sometimes an issue can appear so massive that our meager efforts seem pointless, like aiming a squirt gun at a forest fire. 27,000,000 slaves being trafficked worldwide. Are my efforts really going to do any good? 25,000 girls in the Chicago area,

What to do with this huge block of stone? It took months to cut it out and move it from the quarry to it’s current resting place. Now after two of the finest sculptures in the world attempted to make it look like something meaningful, they gave up. It was now thought to be flawed, useless, and an eyesore in the public square. It sat that way, unused, unfinished, unsightly, for nearly a hundred years. Then a young man, still a virtual nobody in the art world, saw something tha

Deadlines are important. Having been in ministry for nearly thirty years, working with volunteers and overseeing staff, and being a dad now for 25 years, I’ve learned that some people need deadlines to get things done. If I say, “Please have it done by 3p on Friday,” they have something to shoot for and they get it done. But with the same people, if I say, “Please get this done right away,” without a specific time or day, it often gets put off indefinitely. Deadlines can serv

It’s hard for me to believe this is still going on. I’m writing this during a break while attending a conference in Chicago on human trafficking and forced labor/sex slavery in Cook County. I knew it was happening in other parts of the world, and I’d heard that it is here in the states, but I’m shocked as to the degree of the problem right here in our backyard. It’s quite an eye-opening experience to hear an African American speak passionately about the problem of slavery wor

Last Saturday, Linda and I, along with Erica and Brock, made the short trip to Starved Rock on the Illinois River. Besides a lot of Indian legends and French explorer/trader stories, the place is known for its habitat of Bald Eagles. They nest in the high trees atop rocky cliffs along the river. There is something inspirational about seeing eagles in the wild. Seeing them on top of their nests is an extra thrill. But while I’ve seen eagles’ nests in the wild from below, I’ve