A Word From Our Chaplain

Since January of this year my wife and I have been watching a house go up, our house, one that we’re not yet living in but within the next couple of months or so will call “home,” one that began as an empty lot. Then one day it was cleared of its refuse, sculpted from unevenness into…

A Word from Our Chaplain

I remember: It was the last full day of Spring, just last year, and as I awakened before the daylight began to glow I noticed out the window flashes of distant lightning behind the clouds. So I thought I’d better get up and out the door for my morning walk lest the conditions become less favorable. As…

A Word from Our Chaplain

Yesterday was Friday, of Holy Week. You hear it called, most of the time anyway, Good Friday. But when I think about the Story of God and the particular event commemorated on this day, the crucifixion of Jesus, I don’t feel like calling it “good”. I feel like calling it what it was: black. Because I…

Managing Stress in Rough Times

Sometimes life catches up with us. Work problems arise, relationships conflict, and things just don’t go according to plan. What can we do to manage the stress in our lives? Small techniques can make a big difference. Here are a few ideas to help you destress in rough times: Detach from the stressor. If there…

A Word From Our Chaplain

One of the great joys I get to experience in my work as a hospice chaplain is to visit with people of varying ages, life-settings, education, financial standing, philosophies/beliefs, tastes, and so on. In the 19 years I’ve been “vocationing” in this good work of spiritual care, I’ve never met two people just alike. Many…

A Word from Our Chaplain

In the larger Christian faith tradition, of which I am a part, adherents in numerous denominational affiliations often theologize from the reference that they call The Fall, meaning how humankind is a fallen, sinful creature (original sin, they call it) in need of God’s grace of healing and salvation. However, I don’t start there. See, if there…

Keeping Weight Down as a Senior Adult

One of the top New Years Resolutions is always “I want to loose weight.” Our bodies are constantly changing, so this is a constant challenge. We go through puberty, the “freshman 15”, newly married she-cooks-so-well, and multiple metabolism changes. When we enter our senior adult years, we loose significant muscle mass and become a lot…

Merry Christmas from Our Chaplain

Here’s what I love most about Christmas (and I love a lot of things about Christmas!): it’s a story about God coming alive in flesh and blood, as a fully human being (a baby, no less!), which is not announced with dizzying fanfare in Times Square with a crystal star’s viewed-by-millions descent. No, it’s an…

A Word from our Chaplain

You remember, right, how I’m not down with the way the news is presented continuously every day? Those personalities who are reporting their take on news seem to be likeable enough, but they’re just feeding us what some producer or editor has told them and shows them by teleprompter or some “ticker-tape” news feed. And…

A Word from Our Chaplain

Do you watch the news? I mean, do you tune in at the beginning of a newscast, whether local or national/international, to catch the latest? If so, you willfully expose yourself to more violence to your soul than a crotch-grabbing, f-bombing football player. Indeed, you only saw him (if you saw him at all) do…

Just a Thought…

So, why do you do what you do? Money? You simply want to make money, so you just work. The work doesn’t matter as much as the money does. You’re doing something and someone’s paying you to do it. Pretty simple. You fit your supply side into someone’s demand side and—voila!—you have an amicable arrangement…

Hooray for Pumpkins!

Crisp cool air, short days, layered clothing, football games, and of course, Pumpkin. Yes, it’s Fall, and it’s wonderful. Have you noticed that as soon as school starts, you can walk into any Walmart, Target or Hobby Lobby and be overpowered by all the Pumpkin? Pumpkin sweets, Pumpkin drinks, Pumpkin, Pumpkin, Pumpkin… But did you…