Cyndi and I invested in a trail cam this summer. Some creature was eating the tops of our pole beans, leaving a few stubs with little hope for a future harvest. And our lettuce becomes a salad bar while we're not watching. We suspect that at night our garden became an...
In July, we referenced recent articles for ideas to guide our exploration into the world waiting for us on the other side of pandemic isolation. Re-entry anxiety is a common experience for most of us. We’re both eager to come out and yet hesitant. As isolation began,...
The sky in Denver was hazy from wildfires on Tuesday as children cooled down in a fountain. Credit: David Zalubowski / Associated Press Each morning I look at a weather map that includes fronts and radar images of precipitation. Most days, the map of North America is...
It is no wonder that so many of us are struggling with some form of re-entry anxiety. I know that I'm eager to return to a different normal than I've experienced during the pandemic. But at the same time, I'm hesitant, given the issues we're facing, including racism,...
A soundbite is a catch-phrase, a sticky statement — a few words strung together representing a lot more than just the collection of words used as a stand-in for a much broader topic. The better soundbites fit easily on a sign that gets carried to the streets by...
I realized back in the fall that despite entering the pandemic with a goal of improving my eating habits, my weight reached a new high. Unfortunately, it still took me a couple months to react and deal with some bad habits adding to my expanding waistline. The anxiety...
July 4th hasn't fallen on a Sunday since 2010. I preached my first sermon on that day the first week I arrived in Flint as Asbury's pastor. God's call on my life to speak to others about the good news of Jesus Christ has proven to be the greatest gift I have ever...
J. J. Warren speaking at United Methodist Church General Conference… credit Mike DuBose UM News In a call to reclaim both the church and the meaning of “queer,” J. J. Warren, in his book, Reclaiming Church, writes that “The Church has institutionalized racism, sexism,...
Many of us hide our true identities from the visibility of others. We hide who we are even from people close to us. J. Warren, in his book, Reclaiming Church, shared a childhood story about a Halloween costume that his mother made for him. That year, J. J. took to the...
Catching Fire is the 2nd novel of The Hunger Games, a trilogy series written by Suzanne Collins. The setting is a dystopia called Panem, located in North American. Panem consists of a wealthy Capitol and 13 districts in varying states of poverty.2 Each year, children...