A critical medical diagnosis during Holy Week has started our family on what is sometimes called “a journey.” Now we’re home with signs of health and hope, and a sense of urgency to use what time we have—among other things, to take long-deferred day trips around the area. Monday the 17th was cool and cloudy, a good day to visit a treeless place. Southwest of us, the Joliet Arsenal had opened during World War II, churning out munitions partly in conjunction with DuPont. In the 1980s and 90s, the arsenal was decommissioned, then turned into the Abraham Lincoln National Cemetery and the Midewin (mi-DAY-win) National Tall Grass Prairie. In 2015, to foster prairie conservation, a herd of biso
I was listening to the audio of a cable-channel show. I don't watch the show itself. I find some of the people to be incredibly annoying. But I wanted to give the audio a try since I can fast-forward past the annoying sections. One evening the panel was answering questions from viewers. The question was, "What have you done this week to benefit someone else.” It’s a form of the gratitude question: what are you grateful for today? It’s a selfish form of the gratitude question since it asks what did I do for someone else, rather than recognizing the good things that are done for you. Still, one-sided recognition of the good in your life is better than no recognition. One gentleman on the pane
I think that there are many of us that take air conditioning for granted. Craig and I live in a 124-year-old home (that’s rather young for the East Coast...sort of old from where we come from) and have to admit...there are times in the summer where we could not cut it if we did not have an air conditioning unit to keep the humidity down. In the 1980’s I remember when Sears came out to install the family’s first air conditioner - though I do not remember what it was like before the unit was connected. For the sake of survival this summer, St. Stephen’s will be worshiping in the chapel. From the results of the survey, the congregation seems interested in having a Wednesday offering followed by
About 15 years ago, we had a vicar at St. Stephen's. Vicar Lynell was here on Sundays, she assisted with worship, and worked with the youth groups and Sunday School. I see Lynell every year at Synod Assembly, and we say hi. This year I was particularly excited to make sure that Lynell and Pastor Jason met each other. Lynell was at St. Stephen's at a time when the church was going through turmoil with both personnel and finances. It wasn't one of our better periods. There was tension between people. We were hesitant to do anything because we felt we couldn’t afford it. Lynell has a personality that is different than that of other pastors I had encountered at St. Stephen’s. I enjoyed having he
