The energy of possibility is far stronger and more exciting than when we are talking about our issues.
This Sunday, Christians celebrate Pentecost, marking the moment when the 12 apostles were empowered by the Holy Spirit to go forth and proclaim the good news. The apostles moved from a moment of fear and trembling to a lifetime of becoming emboldened messengers of the Gospel.
There are only a handful of birds that elicit pure excitement and joy when it shows up at your backyard feeding station.
It is a Memorial Day week, a time in which we celebrate our veterans and our democracy. Our veterans have protected our democracy from outside threats for over two centuries.
Do you have all the friends you need? Chances are that you are among the majority of American adults who recognize they are struggling with fewer close friendships than they want. As emotional beings, all of us are biologically designed to connect to others in and outside our families of ori…
The year is 1869. New York City: A railroad tycoon learns of a bank for sale in Deadwood, Dakota Territory. His son, Eli, a recent graduate of Harvard University, has the cultural and business training necessary to represent his father’s interests.
I was at book club last week and after discussing this month’s book and sharing some stories, our conversation turned to current events. Even though most of my group are past their childbearing years, the outright ban on abortions passed by the Alabama Legislature last week felt like a full-…
Composting is a mixture of decaying plants and vegetables that is added to soil to improve its quality. I know this from my last summer at college. I needed a few more credits to actually graduate, so my professors loaned me their spare bedroom, and I took three classes on the pass/fail scal…
Yelling at my mom was not how I expected to end that day in February, but I’m glad I did. When the family matriarch is preparing to throw in the towel after recovery from her first (yes, first) major surgery, you can’t keep going about the day and do nothing. So after getting the message tha…
It wasn’t until the 2000 election that I ever thought much about our voting system. After watching Florida’s hanging chads, seeing huge lines in some states where people queued for hours and hearing stories of people claiming they were unable to vote for no discernible reason, I wanted to kn…
Recently I published my first book, “Lighting Your Way, With Love: A father shares faith and wisdom with his son.” I write from the dual perspective of a father whose oldest son has gone to college and as a pastor who has been walking alongside folks on their spiritual journeys for over two …
Political activity is heating up for the oncoming presidential election.
This is probably not news to you, but Americans are at an all-time high when it comes to stress, worry and anger.
Like many people, I awoke last Sunday ready for the Easter season to begin with all of its signs of joy, hope and rebirth. My mood was quickly dampened by the news of the terrorist attacks on Christians celebrating the Easter liturgy at various churches in Sri Lanka. To date, nearly 300 peop…
As we prepare for Easter, let us not forget to pray for the Christians of France who were devastated by the burning of Notre Dame Cathedral this past Monday during Easter week. TV reports showed thousands of people stood on the other side of the Seine singing hymns and praying that their bel…
There is something about life transitions that makes them more difficult the older we become. I have noticed this with my clients as well as myself, and I’m certain that it’s not a simple function of declining vitality or a well-earned preference for our own habits. What is it about change i…
Outrage is all the rage these days. Opportunities to take offense are sought out like electronic charging-stations in airport terminals. Plugging into hurt feelings charges the soul, especially when you can vent your angst to the world on social media. Feels so good.
What makes good public policy?
While national politics seem to dominate the news cycle in most venues, I want to talk today about our state government and the work that is going on right now in St. Paul.
Darkness is an enveloping kind of thing. Darkness can take over not only a space but a person’s attitude and life. I wonder how people in Barrrow, Alaska, do it. There is a point in the middle of their winter when darkness is present every hour of every day for two full months.
So did we make it? Has spring sprung? I ask with caution because this is Minnesota and we know from experience that snow is still a possibility into April. Although I’m not about to make any grand pronouncements yet regarding the end of winter, I will say that these warm days have been such …
One word — plastics — was the career advice in the 1967 movie, “The Graduate.” Sixty years later, that advice is haunting us. We’re being buried by synthetic chemicals molded into bottles, jars, toys, packaging materials, plumbing supplies, vinyl siding and significant portions of everything…
Perspective is a complicated matter: the opinions we hold and live out through our actions, the things we value, our individual sense of how we think the world should be as well as our own sense of what we feel is right and what is wrong. We all have a right to our perspective. However, lear…
“Turn away from sin and believe in the Gospel.” This is one of the admonitions said to us as we are signed with ashes on our foreheads during Ash Wednesday — no small directive for any of us to follow. What do I need to turn away from in my life at this moment? My hair-trigger temper? My jud…
Not long ago, my friend Michelle and I formed an informal two-person book club. We recognized that we both loved talking about the novels we were reading but had never quite fit into standard book clubs. So we read a book together and talk about it over coffee whenever, however and wherever …
While driving into my subdivision this afternoon, I came up to the first intersection only to have to slam on my breaks for a school bus stopping on the opposite corner. That didn't bother me except for the woman sitting in her minivan across the intersection parked at the corner and blockin…
Sociologists are telling us what baby boomers know intuitively: The family meal is in eclipse. Many Americans who have traversed earth’s sod for at least half a century can bear witness to bygone days when family dinner at home was nearly as consistent as first hour at school. Most days of t…
U.S. Supreme Court Justice William O. Douglas in the 1963 Gray v. Sanders case stated, “The conception of political equality from the Declaration of Independence, to Lincoln’s Gettysburg Address, to the Fifteenth, Seventeenth, and Nineteenth Amendments can mean only one thing — one person, o…
I’ve been thinking about love. Probably you have been, too. I don’t want to take away from the chocolates and the cards and the shiny jewelry of Valentine’s Day last week. But I have been thinking about a different kind of love.
I learned a long time ago that in ministry, as in life, you can’t make everybody happy. From time to time, folks leave anonymous messages on the church’s answering machine expressing their displeasure. As a leader, there is not much follow-up that you can do if people won’t own their opinion…
The legislative session is in full swing, and my activist calendar is filling up. I couldn’t be happier.
My life experiences taught me fear was a bad thing, even though it kept me safe. What I did not learn until much later was that it also kept me paralyzed and unable to do the things I desired. It took me a long time to learn that fear is a good thing and is needed to alert us to real danger,…
Is it just me and my love for news, or is anybody else frustrated on how linking to a news site from social media may or may not bring you to the news?
I don’t know about you, but it seems we have had an inordinately high number of overcast days this winter. The rare day the sun does come out changes the landscape dramatically; it also dramatically uplifts my spirit. When the sun is shining, one can notice the nuances of color, the beautifu…
Immigration continues to be front and center in the political arena. Our country has found itself stuck in a deadlock over policy and border security, and this impasse has highlighted how divided — yet determined — both sides are, to the point of shutting down the government over this disagr…
With mild temperatures and a dearth of snow, this has been a relatively easy winter. Not good for the ice fishers, snowmobilers or skiers among us but a boon for every driver. While we can feel some sense of relief from frequent, brutal sub-zero weeks of years past, I am anxious.
“Dan, call me ASAP. Emergency. Wife in car accident. You should head to hospital.” No text message has ever captured my focus quite like that one did several weeks ago.
I have been a pediatric nurse for over 41 years. I have worked in two major metropolitan areas: St. Louis and Minneapolis/St. Paul. I have taken care of children having surgeries and other procedures. I have taken care of children with burns, injuries from accidents, gunshot wounds and vario…
Drive between Savage and Lakeville and you might glimpse a weed-covered railroad right-of-way that hasn’t seen a train since 1980. It’s a remnant of the Dan Patch Line, also known as the Minneapolis, St Paul, Rochester and Dubuque Electric Traction Company, a railroad that achieved distincti…
It’s a new year. Times like these pressure us to act, do and be better. Gym and weight loss memberships are up. People are taking serious looks at their finances. January provides a new opportunity to make the choices we always wanted to make, the ones we always intended to make. January fee…
President Trump calls the news media an enemy of the American people. He’s dead wrong. Without a free press, our democracy as we know it would crumble.
I’m tempted to blow the horn. My travel is going slower than it should, all thanks to the inactivity of the person in the car ahead of me. It’s been three hours since I came to the stop sign. OK, maybe that’s an exaggeration. Still, it seems like I’ve been waiting longer than it should take,…
Here we are only a few days after Christmas, and already some have taken down their trees and put away the last reminders of another lovely Christmas season. In my home, we still have the tree up until after New Year’s.
This is the season of excitement and energy; some would even say there really is magic in the air. In some ways this seems to be true. The Christmas songs that are playing speak of it, and it is evident in the favorite movies of the season such as “Miracle on 34th Street” and the miraculous …
I am sure you have heard of all of the cities and states that competed for Amazon’s new corporate offices, right? Do you know one of the major reasons Amazon chose suburbs of New York City and Washington D.C.? Public transportation! According to many articles, including a recent one by Minne…
I wonder if you were able, as I was, to watch on TV or online as our nation honored the life of our 41st president, George H.W. Bush. It was a wonderful set of ceremonies and rituals, meant to honor the nation and the office of president as much as the man.
Have you noticed that the traditional Christmas Letter has fallen by the wayside? Like the public filings in the Robert Mueller probe, the annual holiday greeting is becoming more and more redacted. Almost to non-existence.
In March of 2005, while walking into Prior Lake High School at day’s end to tutor math students, I was met by three oversize guys taunting a much smaller boy. They were enjoying themselves, calling him names I can’t print. The smaller boy was crouched over cowering as I walked into the school.
By some estimates, our nation is home to 70 percent of the world’s lawyers. Perhaps that figure will decline as other nations scramble to catch up. Nonetheless, on purely statistical grounds, lawyers play a disproportionate role in our society.
The holiday gifting season is here, and I truly wanted to climb aboard the shop-local bandwagon. But the more I thought about shop local, the more conflicting the tune. There are people here in our community who work for Minnesota-based regional and national brands, and as a result, leading …
