My wife loves rainbows. We were sitting in a restaurant in Sanford, N.C., one day when she saw half of a rainbow. She jumped up to get a better look but was disappointed when she couldn’t see the whole rainbow. When we left the restaurant and were going to the car, to our surprise, she […]
Bill Neff was a friend of mine in Harrisonburg. Bill and his wife, Elizabeth, held a Christmas banquet every year for the homeless, those who had just been released from prison, and for those who had no one with whom to celebrate Christmas. The Neffs had a wonderfully large home that could accommodate more than […]
This has been an unusual year. We have had dry times, times of flooding and, yes, windy times. Fires have raged out west, and terrible storms have ravaged the East Coast. The Shenandoah Valley was so dry this summer that many farmers lost most of their crops. Right now in our area it’s terribly dry, […]
On July 29, 1955, the United States announced plans to put satellites in space. The Soviet Union soon announced the same thing, and the race was on. The Soviets would launch their first satellite, called Sputnik, and propel the first human, Yuri Gararin, into space. The race continued, and on July 20,1969, Neil Armstong’s “giant […]
In my first church, I took the youth to a camp one year in February. We studied the sacrament of baptism, and to my delight, some of the youth wanted to be baptized. Since it was February, we had to break the ice. It was definitely a “cool” experience, but afterwards we enjoyed hot chocolate […]
Churches today have changed a lot in the way they communicate, largely via email and cell phone or text messages. Nearly every day I receive an email from the church my son pastors. New Song UMC had a special outdoor service this past Sunday for pets. Dozens of pets attended, there was a petting zoo, […]
When I was pastor in Martinsville, we started a day care in the church building which grew and grew. When the children were disruptive or did something they weren’t supposed to, the staff would often bring them to me. I would take them to the sanctuary and show them a stained-glass window of Jesus holding […]
My father was a Marine in the Second World War. He was wounded and returned to the States to recover. His company initially consisted of 250 soldiers, and all but eight were killed that day. A bullet had completely penetrated Dad’s ankle. He left his boot on and walked out with the other seven who […]
This past week, I was asked to officiate at a funeral in Chester. The woman who had died was only 63 years old. She had four children – three girls and one boy – and a whole bunch of grandchildren. This family was closeknit, but they had no idea of how to deal with grief. […]
I recently saw a man standing at an intersection with a sign saying, “Please help!” He was standing under a sign that said, “Don’t stop and help.” It pulls at my heartstrings every time I see something like this. In my reading this week, I read a story about a woman filling her car up […]