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October 3, 2024
I often write about bears, birds, weeds, and ants, so maybe I should change the name of this column to “Mr. Mike’s Nature Corner.” Turtles have become the celebrity creature in our household. For the past several weeks, almost daily, an assortment of box turtles has crawled under the fence into our backyard. At first, we assumed that they, like the occasional bear, were just passing through, but we soon learned that our yard is a destination.
September 26, 2024
In 1985, I went on a short-term mission trip to Haiti with a small team from our church. We were going to help Hosean International Ministries (HIM) build an orphanage in the town of Pignon, 40 miles south of Cap Haitien. There was a lot riding on this trip.
September 19, 2024
Have you ever sat in a class lecture, a business presentation, or even a sermon and realized that you haven’t a clue what the speaker is talking about? I have.
September 12, 2024
I just completed a summer sermon series in the Psalms, a common practice among churches. I was motivated by the need to preach more from the Old Testament and a desire to keep up my skills with the Hebrew language.
September 5, 2024
If you were to describe prayer to someone who knew nothing about it, how would you describe it? You might say, “Prayer is talking to God,” and, indeed, it is. Talking to God in prayer is the privilege of those who are God’s children in Christ Jesus.
August 29, 2024
If you were to drive by my home, you would see a brown paper lunch bag hanging from the ceiling of the front porch. No, this is not part of my hurricane preparedness, nor is it a declaration of solidarity with those who “brown-bag-it” for lunch every day. The lunch bag, stuffed with paper, is there to discourage wasps from building nests. Apparently, it is close enough in appearance to a wasp’s nest that other wasps decide to build elsewhere.
August 22, 2024
My wife and I had houseguests not long ago, decades-old friends from southeast Florida that we had not seen in years. Our friends had never been to this part of Florida, so a significant part of our “catching up” conversation was dedicated to describing what life is like here on the Florida panhandle.
August 15, 2024
I have noticed a recent trend – well, a trend I call recent because I just noticed it – people thanking the universe. I first heard it a few years ago from the lips of an acquaintance, who had just come through a very dark period of depression. He emerged thanking the universe for his recovery. My initial, unspoken reaction was, “I wonder where he got that notion?” Since then, I have noticed an uptick in the number of people, celebrity and average Joe alike, thanking the universe.
August 8, 2024
Unless you just fell off the proverbial turnip truck, you are aware of the controversy surrounding the opening ceremony of the 2024 Olympic Games in Paris. Thomas Jolly, the artistic director, presented a tableau of DaVinci’s Last Supper that featured drag queens and dancers in the role of the apostles, and DJ Barbara Butch, an LGBTQ+ icon, playing the Christ figure.
August 1, 2024
“If in doubt, sing louder!” I told the volunteer church choir at a rehearsal. The look on their faces said, “Oh, really? Why would I do that?” They knew that I had been a professional musician, but they also knew that I had zero choir-directing experience. I explained, “If in doubt, you hold back, even if you are singing your part correctly, it will sound wrong. So, if you are going to make a mistake, make it a good one, and we’ll fix it!”
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