By Pastor Nissa Peterson Chatfield and Root Prairie Lutheran Churches One of the things I love so much about spring is watching as different plants begin to sprout and grow. It starts with my daffodils, irises, and tulips. Then the grass begins to green, and buds on trees slowly begin to become leaves. It always feels like a miracle to have new growth and new life after a … [Read more...]
Peering at the Past Church memories: Love Boat, bad-language basketball and a wedding mouse
Part one of a series The youth played table tennis without incident, but basketball was once curtailed because of cursing. It was the 1940s at the South Ridge Evangelical United Brethren Church (E. U. B.). Since 1968, when that denomination merged with the Methodist Church, the Houston County congregation has been known as South Ridge United Methodist Church. In those early … [Read more...]
The cross was NOT the end!
By Pastor Pam Seebach Harmony, Mabel, and Newburg United Methodist Churches On the last page of most good stories, you will find the words ‘The End’ prominently printed following the final sentence of the story. This is fitting because every book or story eventually ends. Even Tolstoy’s 1,225-page book “War and Peace” eventually arrives at the end – no more story. Jesus’ … [Read more...]
Remembering the good old days and the good old cough drops
A friend grumbled about his bother-in-law. Did he misspeak or didn’t he care for the man? I attended a retirement party for a brother-in-law. He’s a great guy and I was happy when he’d found a job and now he’s retired. I enjoyed some little smokies (cocktail sausages) with friends. Little smokies are the Cadillac of appetizers for those of us feeding below the caviar … [Read more...]
A Goodly Heritage – A pivotal day
She sang so sweetly. This young lady smiled as she uttered the melodious love song at a Christian wedding today. The audience gave her their rapt attention. Her voice flooded the auditorium with melody. What a joy to see and hear her serving the Lord, the bride and groom and others with her voice. “I am glad you asked me to do this,” she offered as she spoke to the groom at … [Read more...]
Why do men wear hats? Hatters gonna hat.
He shouldn’t forget. It’s always under his hat. It was cold and I was going for a walk, so I donned headwear. It was a shabby, high-mileage cap carrying a logo advertising Zeiss, a leading technology enterprise operating in the fields of optics and optoelectronics. I walked a trail where other hat wearers walked. One wore a smart-alecky hat with a message reading, “Sorry … [Read more...]
Fresh off the farm – Did you miss it?
My eyes jolted open, only to see what I shouldn’t see through my windshield: tall grass whipping by as I drove somewhere I knew I shouldn’t be. Confused and panicked, my foggy brain picked my foot off the accelerator. What in the world had I done? Where was I? My breath escaped me as I realized what I was doing: I had fallen asleep at the wheel – crossed oncoming traffic, and … [Read more...]
Now what?
By Pastor Kevin Barnhart Spring Grove Evangelical Free Moment follows moment, day follows day, as you get older, they can start to fly by so quickly you can barely keep track. Events and time move quicker than we can process all that is happening, so we don’t process. We keep our head down, reduce our focus to things that impact us directly and yet more and more of life … [Read more...]
Peering at the Past Up the river to Rushford on steamboats built in Houston
Part five of a series In the autumn of 1857, the steamboat “Key City” ran into and sank the freight boat “Ben Coursin’” on the Mississippi River near Dresbach. One account says 12 to 15 people were killed or drowned. David Watson mortgaged his farm and secured $300 in gold to purchase the wreckage and worked all winter to pull the “Ben Coursin’” out of the river in order to … [Read more...]
My neighbor nearly got a DOI ticket — Driving On Ice
Buying used underwear. That has nothing to do with this column, but I had to start it some way. Our refrigerator doesn’t have an icemaker. We have refrigerator magnets in there because the door was fully covered. It’s nice when the ice leaves the lakes, but it’s wonderful when the ice leaves my driveway. Anyone who lived through the Ice Ages knows that exhilaration. There … [Read more...]