"I have thought about killing him, but forgiving him? That was not even on my radar screen," retorted a friend whose daughter is the recipient of regular physical abuse by her husband. Forgiveness can be complicated. It does not mean we excuse bad behavior or try to...

Retreat, verb (intrans.) withdraw to a quiet or secluded place. I attended the Women's Retreat sponsored by our church this week. It was truly a place of quiet, beauty, and blessing. The key verse for the week was, And you must love the Lord your God with all your...

I regularly read via email Bread for the Journey by Henry Nouwen. He writes daily pithy devotions that get right to the heart of the matter. One recently stabbed mine. "What is the basis of our security? When we start thinking about that question, we may give many...

After the Academy Awards, everyone has a opinion on the winners and losers, the best and worst dresses, the laugh lines that were funny – or not, and always the length of the entire program.  Some make this annual event into a party for friends while others prefer to...

Given the task of doing the eulogy at my mother's recent funeral, this poem struck a deep chord within. Take a few moments and ponder on these words: HOW DO YOU LIVE YOUR DASH?   I read of a man who stood to speak At the funeral of a friend. He referred to the dates...

I just opened my email to find a note from the neighborhood scribe that one of my neighbors collapsed in his yard yesterday and died.  We have been here for just a few months so that I do not know this man yet shock is reverberating over the Internet and among the...