Musings

By Sean Dietrich “Will the room please settle down before the dance begins?!” says Gary to the elderly crowd in the nursing home cafeteria. “Simmer down, please!” Gary is an old man with a saxophone dangling from his neck. He speaks over a microphone, addressing old folks who are all wearing...

By Myrna Conrad Repentance seems to be a long-forgotten word in our society today. In fact, no one likes to read about or talk about repentance. Therefore, I am very excited that you are reading this article. Repentance is seen as a very negative word, when in fact it is...

By Sean Dietrich Major League Baseball spring training started today. I sat on my porch, listening to a radio. And I was cheering. I mean genuinely cheering. The Atlanta Braves play the Tampa Bay Rays. The national anthem was played. The umpire used his time-ravaged voice to shout, “Play ball!” I...

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 Rick Moore I have two older brothers. All three of us are less than a year and a half apart. My little sister is eleven years younger than me. During our elementary school days, many mornings my brothers and I would fight (yes, literally) over who had to eat...

By Sean Dietrich We were newlyweds, living in a grungy apartment. Each morning, I would wake before her. I would pass my morning hours writing poetry on a yellow legal pad, sipping coffee. Mostly, I’d write the kinds of god-awful things you’d expect newlyweds to write. I’m talking painfully corny stuff. I’d...

By Myrna Conrad What does freedom of speech mean? We all have the ability to say or express whatever we want to in any country. However, there are varying degrees of repercussions and consequences within the legal system of various governments. In the U.S., the First Amendment addresses our rights,...

By Lauren Catanese “The pastor told us, “Love is not a feeling; feelings change periodically. Love is a choice. And when you make that choice to choose love, even if you don’t feel like loving, you are choosing to love unconditionally. You recognize that we are all flawed creations, created...

By Rick Moore Once, while attending seminary, I had the rare privilege of sitting next to one of my professors in the school cafeteria. I took the opportunity to ask him a deep question that had puzzled me for years: If God forgives and forgets, and we are to forgive...

By Myrna Conrad We often start each New Year with commitments (New Year’s resolutions) to do things differently. We commit to eat less, work out more, spend less, travel more, step out of our comfort zone more, love more, stress less, and numerous other grand aspirations to start the year...