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I grew up being bored at church. When I later became serious about my faith and began training for ministry, I vowed to never let that happen in a place where I have something to do with it. Too many people stay away from church because too many churches are not worth going to.

Five active wildfires have ravished LA County. 10,000 homes and businesses have gone up in flames, causing billions in damage. 10 lives have been lost and 180,000 left homeless.

I’ve written a couple of summer blogs encouraging readers to get outside and enjoy the warm weather. But I’d like to encourage you to do the same thing in the cold.

2024 is soon to be over. For some of you, it was a great year. But for others, it was a year to forget.

It doesn’t make sense, but it was my favorite Christmas. It especially doesn’t make sense that it was our kids’ favorite Christmas…but it was. It was a difficult year financially. Our expenses were high and income was low. We had a capital campaign at church and we committed a gift over and above our regular giving that was a stretch for us. And then we had some medical bills not covered by insurance.

When the type on his printer began to grow faint, Bob called a local repair shop where a friendly clerk informed him the printer probably only needed to be cleaned. Because the store charged $50 for cleanings, the clerk told Bob he could read the printer's manual and try to do it himself.

A young woman was complaining to her father about how difficult her life had become. He said nothing, but took her to the kitchen and set three pans of water to boiling. To the first pan, he added carrots; to the second, eggs; and to the third, ground coffee. After all three had cooked, he put their contents into separate bowls and asked his daughter to cut into the eggs and carrots and smell the coffee.

Christmas is coming! Parents, how will you approach the Santa thing this year?

You should skip Thanksgiving this year if you are a grumbler, complainer, or a generally negative person. After all, you’ll just be a hypocrite. Why would you celebrate a day that you don't believe in? If your modus operandi is to look for what you think is wrong and voice it, just forget the day. Everyone will be looking at you like, “What’s she doing here?”

At dinner time when our kids were little, we would take turns praying before eating. It was 5-year-old Brock’s turn to pray. When Brock prayed, he never prayed only for the food. I tend to get right to the point, thank God for the food, say “Amen,” and we start eating. Brock, however, liked to talk to God.

Officials in China recently cited 35 restaurants for adding opioids to their entrées in an attempt to engender customer loyalty through addiction. I have to wonder who came up with the idea and how it spread to other nearby restaurants.

Friday was All Saints’ Day, or officially, All Hallows' Day. We actually get Halloween from this holiday as the night before was called Hallowed Evening, and then shortened to Halloween. No, Halloween is not Satan’s birthday…Satan wouldn’t have a birthday, but that’s a whole ‘nother blog.