Musings

By Sean Dietrich She was trash. At least that’s how she was treated. She was found wandering a rural Mississippi highway. Beneath the stars. It was a wonder the girl hadn’t been hit. This was a busy highway. The kind with transfer trucks. The dog was walking in the center of the...

By Victoria Ostrosky Some of us have a word of the year – mine is ‘moderation’; but, this year I also have a phrase of the year that grabbed me recently on the Road to Redemption podcast, an interview with Dr. Mike. Here it is: The more you listen to...

By Sean Dietrich It was our place. That’s what it was. I grew up in a little fishing village, nestled in the Florida Panhandle. This was long before the tattoo parlors, before the T-shirt shops, before Whole Foods and Bass Pro. Today our little town is not even a shadow of its...

By Rick Moore My wife says she saw it in a dream. We had only been married a few months. It was the first, and one of the few times she has ever shared one of her dreams with me. She was in a pet shop the day before looking...

By Pastor Doug Stauffer Edmund Burke once declared, “The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is for good men to do nothing.” Scripture echoes this truth by instructing, “And have no fellowship with the unfruitful works of darkness, but rather reprove them” (Ephesians 5:11). These admonitions...

By Sean Dietrich Easter Sunday. An Episcopal church in Birmingham. Vaulted ceilings. Ornate masonry. A pipe organ. A choir dressed in lacework cottas. Individual stained-glass windows that cost more than tactical government helicopters. The whole works. My wife and I arrived late. The place was loaded with parishioners in pastel colors....

By Sean Dietrich It’s late. And I wasn’t going to write this, but I have to. Not only for me, but for the good of our children, and our children’s children. No matter how hard it is to address. I’m talking, of course, about the highly controversial issue of homemade...

By Doug Stauffer, pastor, chaplain, veteran (father, son and brother to veterans) From every branch of service, every walk of life, America’s soldiers are faced with peril and strife. Bravery and sacrifice we continually recognize, Never forget those who paid the ultimate sacrifice. Memorial Day: a reminder to pay respect To those who served, freedoms...

By Sean Dietrich Do you remember when we met? I do. It was a Barnes and Noble bookstore. I was reading; you were with friends. You waltzed through the door with that determined walk you have. That I-can-take-care-of-myself walk. There are some things a man never forgets. You wore a baby-blue sweater. Your...

By Myrna Conrad Many people mistake humility for weakness, passivity or insecurity. However, a humble person is anything but weak, passive or insecure. It takes a person with tremendous inner strength to realize and admit his or her limitations and to live free from the ever-present pull of pride and...