When is the last time someone asked you how you feel? These days we all want to talk about what we think, but we habitually ignore the feelings that are often driving our opinions and our actions. We are created as whole beings, with bodies, emotions, intellect, senses and so much more. Yet for some reason the idea that emotions are bad has infiltrated popular … Continue reading Do Not Fear Your Feelings
I have a spiritual practice that helps me internalize the Scriptures and the ways of God. I imagine being one of the characters or a bystander in a biblical story, and I spin out the story as I see it. It doesn’t have to be theologically “correct,” although I try to keep it plausible. I simply spend time wondering what it was like to … Continue reading Saved on the Road
The quality that we so often seek in our lives is joy. When we become wise enough to know that joy cannot be manufactured through short-lived pleasures, we might settle for less. We might resign ourselves to what the writer of Ecclesiastes concludes: “there is nothing new under the sun.” (Eccles. 1:9) Or we could learn the secret to joy: gratitude. There was a time … Continue reading Spiritual Practices: Gratitude
This post was originally written for the November 9, 2018 edition of the Spencer Reporter. Today you might be experiencing a syndrome many of us had two years ago, after the 2016 presidential election: *Post-Election Stress Disorder. The first thing I did when I got up the morning after mid-term elections was to look up the results for Iowa online. After that I checked … Continue reading Addressing Your PESD*
As I approached my departure from parish ministry, people were curious. They asked me what I will do next. It seemed easiest to tell them that I was taking a couple of months’ sabbatical, a break from ministry before determining my next steps. I didn’t tell them that what I was feeling God calling me to a wilderness time, and I figured the next steps … Continue reading A Question in the Wilderness
saint sinner seeker 