We don't write papers, we build scrapbooks
We don't write papers, we build scrapbooks
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A day in the life of … With the advent of the Internet and the smartphone and everything in between, I enjoy going online and watching farmers at work in different parts of our country. These farmers take a camera with them everywhere they go and record their days’ activities. Simple things like hauling corn to the elevator, sorting cows, pumping the manure pit, or working a field becomes entertainment. It’s basically all the same work, just different. I don’t really have a desire to carry a cam...
Recently I officiated at a funeral for a child who died suddenly. I’m sharing part of the message from that service in today’s column. This is a difficult day. We all want to help, but none of us knows what to do. So we pray. But we don’t even know how to pray. But we still pray because the Bible says “when we don't know how to pray, the Holy Spirit intercedes with groanings on our behalf that are too deep for words,” (Romans 8:26). Thank God for that verse, because that’s where we are right n...
Traditional wisdom comes from the old adage: “Early to bed, early to rise, makes a man healthy, wealthy, and wise.” In the technology-saturated world we live in today, that wisdom may be challenged, but it still holds true for the most part. There is no substitute for hard work. A friend shared with me a quote from his grandpa from years ago: “When you and I are dead and gone there is still going to be work to do and some darn fool trying to get it done.” We mused about the two sayings for a w...
When my wife and I were first married we bought a small, 13 inch portable television. To get reception we’d adjust a set of rabbit ears on the back, twisting and turning them to pick up the invisible signal. We got about three channels on that little thing. Since then, we’ve graduated up to larger models. That TV seemed very small at the time. That’s when they were first coming out with giant 60” large screen TV’s. Today, the average size TV screen in North America is 55 inches. According...
Following are notes from my “diary” that I sent out to the people praying for me before, during, and after surgery to repair a hernia: I’m healing well, thanks for your prayers and concern. The doctor here is good. It was really a God thing. It might seem strange finding a doctor online, but it worked and that’s the way we do things in this present age. I had three requirements: No mesh, no mask, no “vaccine.” (I would have waived the mask requirement but I didn't have to). He is a D.O. - a doct...
I’m sitting here tonight on the eve of going under the knife tomorrow. For the past few weeks I’ve been dealing with some lower abdominal pain. I found out this week I have what is called an inguinal hernia. The doctor considered my symptoms to be somewhat urgent and I have repair surgery scheduled for tomorrow morning. I’m not sure if this is major or minor surgery, but the nurse told me they were going to slice, snip, pull, wrap, tuck, and sew my innards back together again. (That’s my inte...
For the Christian living in the world today, things seem a little bleak. There is moral rot and decay all around us. The morality and teaching of the Bible is ridiculed and mocked in our culture and the exact opposite of what the Bible teaches is being practiced everywhere. Even some who call themselves Christians have adopted the ways of the world. We should not be surprised by any of this. The Bible says that in the end times there will be those who call evil good and good evil. There will be...
For the last several weeks the fighting between Russia and Ukraine is front and center on the world’s stage. (Step aside Covid). But the struggle we all share is - how can we help? We are so limited in what we can do. I’m haunted by pictures of bombed out buildings lying in piles of rubble. I see pictures of people digging through debris in search of lost belongings and treasures. One picture is that of a blonde-haired mother holding the hands of her two young daughters who look to be about 6 o...
Lately I’ve been reporting on the story of a ministry in Romania that has been taking in Ukrainian refugees as they flee their war torn country. The work of this mission has been on-going. The pastor in Romania, who is a personal friend of ours, opened his campus to receive these refugees. A group of 70 children were first to come. A few days later they moved on to a safe home in Germany. Within hours, another group of children, moms and grandmothers arrived totaling about 50 people. Some of t...
In last week’s column, I wrote about how our church got involved with helping Ukraine refugees escape the war zone of their country and find sanctuary at a Bible camp in Romania. That story continues today with the following diary entries by me. March 8, 2022 Dear Martintown Family, We have some new developments in the Ukraine refugee situation. Following is the message sent from Romania last night: Good evening, Tonight, the children that were housed at our camp have headed to Germany. Kyiv aut...
The last few days we’ve had some excitement here at good ole’ Martintown Community Church (MCC) in Martintown Wisconsin. The eyes of the world have been on Russia and the Ukraine. For some deranged reason, Vladimir Putin decided he needed to invade Ukraine and attempt to start World War III. I’ve chronicled below, a string of letters I sent out to our Congregation this past week. (It’s a sensitive situation over there, and with social media being a global phenomenon, I’ve changed the name of t...
I get to meet some very interesting people. Recently I met a gentleman who is 74 years old and still driving a cement truck for a living. He has been driving one for more than 35 years. He loves his job but according to him, it is time to retire. I asked him then what? He said he would then devote his time to helping his two sons in their businesses. One was a contractor who built houses, the other had a trash can cleaning business. That intrigued me. I pictured a guy chasing the garbage truck...
Recently, while on vacation in Florida, I went with a friend to an auto mechanic shop where he was getting his car repaired. The owner was an amiable guy and quite chatty. As he worked, he told his life story - which I found quite fascinating. He immigrated to the United States from Cuba in 1967 when he was ten years old. He said his family’s name was entered into some kind of lottery and they came up winners. They were flown to Miami first, and from there they went to Brooklyn, New York w...
Last week my fun was getting stuck in the snow. Two weeks ago it was thawing frozen water pipes. This week, my fun was in the sky. My wife and I took a little holiday and went to Florida to celebrate our wedding anniversary and enjoy warm weather and sunshine. The way it worked out, we chose a night flight that was due to arrive in Florida at 11:00 p.m. Since we know people in Florida we arranged for a ride to meet us at the airport rather than take a Uber. Then the fun started. We were seated...
This time of year is always significant to my wife, Cindy and I. We celebrate our wedding anniversary on February 14th. This year has special significance because we are celebrating 40 years of marriage! It all began in the spring of my 19th year when this beautiful girl caught my attention. Not only did she have unsurpassed beauty, but I soon discovered she had inner beauty clear to the depths of her soul. She was, and still is, a gem. We dated for a few years and tied the knot in an enchanting...
A few years ago we noticed that our church sign was getting kind of old and in need of some repairs. It had probably not been updated for about 20 years, other than to add names and change service times occasionally. Our church board thought we might want to put in a new digital sign instead of fixing up the old wood one. After checking with the county on setback requirements and getting a couple of prices, we decided not to do anything for now. Then came Covid and with Covid came parking lot...
Somebody asked me one time if I ever run out of stories to tell? The answer is No. Never. Everything that happens in life is a story waiting to be retold - and it’s usually a lot funnier the second time around. A good friend gave me a coffee mug for Christmas that says: “Be careful - you might end up in a sermon illustration.” I walked into the Post Office last week all bundled up for the weather. I had on my insulated brown coveralls, Muck boots, two hooded sweatshirts, stocking cap, gloves, an...
We had a little incident last week in our neighborhood. The police dubbed it “The Barefoot Bandit.” The story goes that a guy was traveling down our road when he got stuck in a snow drift. He had become disoriented and had no idea where he was. Instead of calling for help on his cell phone from inside his car, he opted to get out and walk to the nearest house, which was just down the road from us. No one answered the door so he broke a window and went inside and called the police on him...
A group from our church just returned home from a mission trip to Kentucky where we helped clean up after the tornadoes. Following are the daily blogs I sent home while we were gone. Day one: Hello Everybody. We left Martintown Community Church yesterday (January 2) at 2:03 p.m. and arrived in Paducah, Kentucky at 9:57 p.m. The trip was without incident. Our caravan consisted of 4 work trucks pulling trailers loaded with 2 track loaders, one Kubota tractor, an ATV, a minivan, a passenger van, a...
Who is considered the most important person in history? To answer that question, computer scientist Steven Skiena and Google engineer Charles Ward got together and developed a system that ranks historical figures in order of significance. Their research produced a book called Who’s Bigger? Where Historical Figures Really Rank. To establish their “significance” ranking, they assessed more than 800,000 names, calculated achievement and celebrity and gravitas, and then factored in how long, and h...
Did you ever notice that a woman’s “I’ll be ready in 5 minutes” and a man’s “I’ll be home in 5 minutes” are exactly the same? This is the time of year when we usually look back and reflect on the past year. If I could sum up the year 2021 in one word it would be “blessed". My wife and I went from no grandchildren to one on January 11th - a 100% increase! Our church family has more than doubled during the last year. We’ve added more people, more fellowship, and we’ve seen more spiritual growth...
Birthdays must be good for you because statistics show that people who have the most, live the longest. (Anonymous) I like to write. I write this column, a church newsletter, plus a note on the back of our Sunday bulletin, a sermon, an adult Sunday School class, and a Thursday Bible study lesson. Every class I teach gets a handout with my notes printed out. Sometimes I overlap the content. Most of the time I don’t. Some people enjoy what I write, others are offended by it. Every year when we s...
Silence is golden, unless you have kids, then silence is just really suspicious. Well, we made it through Thanksgiving which means all the pumpkins in front of the house can finally be disposed of. It’s always fun to go out to the pumpkin patch and pick them early in the fall, and then decorate by placing them in strategic places around the homestead, but now it’s time for them to go. We have Christmas decorations to set up. The day before yesterday I got the lawn mower out for the last tim...
My teeth were stained, so the dentist asked me, “Do you smoke or drink coffee?” I told him I drink it. Last week I had a funeral in Amboy, illinois. Amboy is exactly 83 miles from my house. It’s a pretty drive from here to there. The trees were still in full fall mode making for outstanding scenery. The 8-man high school Amboy football team had just played a game against the Orangeville Broncos. The closer I got to town, the more signs popped up encouraging the hometown team to beat their oppon...
I had a dilemma on my hands last weekend. I had a toothache. It started on Sunday night. It was just a low grade sensitive toothache but I knew what it would lead to. I’ve had them before. First thing Monday morning I called my dentist only to get a recording that their office was closed due to a broken water pipe that flooded them out. The recording encouraged me to leave a message because I’m important to them and they check their messages often. The nice voice on the recording said they wou...
