Lauri and I had a great time away last week in Florida.  We felt pretty blessed to experience 80 degree days with lots of sunshine.  We enjoyed scenic walks, boat rides and visits to state parks.  It was pretty refreshing to go outside wearing just a t shirt!  I will admit that we checked the… Read More »

I just had my truck washed.  It was so dirty and just crusted with salt overspray.  Yeah… not a fan of salting roads at all.  Actually, salt causes more wear and damage to vehicles over anything else in our area.  It just eats away at steel, brake and fuel lines and moving components.  The best… Read More »

One of my life dreams has been to have a dedicated workshop.  I have always made do with garages or basement areas in the past, but 2 years ago I began the building project of a dedicated workshop.  To be honest, it has a bit more of a man-cave feel to it.  I have chronicled… Read More »

On Tuesday night I had the opportunity to offer an invocation prayer at the Willard City Council Meeting.  Yes, our community still opens city meetings with prayer.  I’m sure Willard is in the minority of cities that still honor this practice in Ohio, and I am grateful that we have public representatives that understand the… Read More »

When Lauri and I were newly married, the area we chose to serve in our church was in the youth ministry.  Man, we were young, energetic, enthusiastic and… YOUNG!  We didn’t know much about student ministry, but we did like teenagers and wanted to see them grow deeper in Jesus.  We attended and served in… Read More »

About 30 years ago I was pulled over by a police officer in a community that I was not part of for driving 48 MPH in a 35 MPH zone.  To this day, I still remember my initial confusion as he wrote me a ticket… you see, someone had just passed me, and that car… Read More »

Well… 2020 is his-to-ry… Bring it 2021!  A New Year has begun and normally my reaction is — “Ok, it was bound to happen… the planet Earth is orbiting the sun after all… what’s the big deal?”  Yeah… normally I don’t get too excited about a New Year… in fact… I worked all day on… Read More »

Well, in a couple of days we will close the book on 2020.  I will admit, I usually don’t give a new year much thought beyond making sure I write the correct year on some document for the month of January, but I won’t be very upset to see 2020 in the rearview mirror.   It… Read More »

Much to the chagrin of the Jewish leaders of His day, Jesus often acted against religious  cultural norms.  He pushed back on many rituals and refused to bend to the pressure of the Pharisees seeking to force their cumbersome rules upon others.  Without doubt, the most infuriating thing that Jesus did in their eyes was… Read More »