My daughters fill the room with laughter as one of them hangs a big rubber band from her ear. To understand why, you have to know more about their PopPop Don. One day, their PopPop told them about a time when he was Dean of Students. Don conducted a serious meeting with a student only to find out afterwards that… Read More
It can be hard to find the joy of Christmas when we live in a broken world. How do we say “Peace on Earth” when children are gunned down in schools, people killed at concerts, and countries are at war? How do we sing “Joy to the World” after hearing news reports or seeing haunting images of terror? We know… Read More
In an earlier post, I encouraged people to rethink the definition of beauty in order to find it in brokenness. In addition to broadening our imagination of what beauty means, we need to expand our awareness of how small acts of kindness can give others great beauty. We live in a broken world—poverty, discrimination, crime, death, and war. We also… Read More
A Good Friday tenebrae service is one of my favorite times in church. In Latin “tenebrae” means shadows or darkness in Latin. In a tenebrae service, there is a gradual extinguishing of candles while reflecting on the death of Jesus. For Christians, the Maundy Thursday, Good Friday, and Easter services are holy and foundational to their faith. In addition, the… Read More
Remembering Don Schweingruber on his birthday. In a thousand different ways, I learn how you died. When I see a perfect gift for you and know I’ll never watch you open another present. When I am in the grocery store remembering our shopping trips and knowing we will never cook together again. It takes time for our multiple levels of… Read More
Today is leap day. As with many occasions, there are social media and marketing attempts to make your leap day extra special. What can you do in one day? Don’t waste your extra 24 hours! I’m all for making the most of every day. However, I don’t like the pressure of these “special days.” Yes, it is fun to do… Read More
Daniel greatly admired his wife. He described her as a wonderful role model for people. She modeled how to live life and how to face death. Daniel said his wife wanted to capture life and keep living even as she faced cancer. After several years of living with cancer and enduring many medical procedures, they discovered her treatment options were… Read More
Walking into the large reception area, one might initially think there were many families on vacation. People talking and laughing in small groups with children darting around big islands holding the breakfast spread. If you look closer, you’ll see some of them wiping away tears. You’ll see the exhausted look of fresh grief on many faces. For others, eyes shine… Read More
