From the inside of a Christmas card — A silent night, a star above, a blessed Gift of hope and love. A Merry Christmas to you and your whole family. — Amen!

From a friend whose spouse recently died — To everyone who will be sitting with a full family at Christmas: please never take it for granted. — Please. Never. Especially not now.

Presbyterian poet Ann Weems — Each year the child is born again. Each year some new heart finally hears finally sees finally knows love. And in heaven there is great rejoicing! There is a festival of stars! There is celebration…

Martin Luther is credited with saying, “Unless the shadow of the cross falls upon the manger, we miss the entire point.” Where did he get such an idea?! Maybe from stuff like this: Let me set this before you as…

Let’s review — “I’ve forgiven myself for not being Beethoven.” God’s greatest glory is a human being fully alive. Fully Human, Fully Alive God is forever loving you.  You do not have to change, grow,  or be good in order…

From two friends of mine and decidedly Not For Clergy Only — To all my friends who are clergy, work on a church staff, or serve in other forms of Christian ministry and the churches you serve: I am thinking…

“HOW?!” Powell answers — Having a friend who provides the needed atmosphere for free emotional communication is an invaluable help to vision therapy and personal growth. — You’re worth the effort, and even/especially the cost, of time with a trained…

Since Day took over the program from Urban Meyer in 2019, the Buckeyes have an .863 winning percentage, second-best in the country behind Southeastern Conference powerhouse Georgia. They have reached the College Football Playoff in four of Day’s six seasons…

After a bit more from Fr. John Powell, you may well be going, “That’s a lot of heavy stuff. Some of it I wanna ignore, Joe.” But here he is again being helpful — After discharging painful emotions, verbally or…

He and I were at his parents’ house. On a road trip just the two of us took. About a week later he died of a heart attack. Today’s his birthday. I miss him more than ever.