Spiritual Director

Grace, peace, and mercy from God: Father, Son, Holy Spirit! Let’s focus on the first word of this greeting as an encouragement in our walk with God and our work in this ministry: Grace. What a marvelous word! Volumes have, and will be, written on the subject. The second talk of a Via de Cristo weekend is titled “Grace” and energizes the process of renewing our relationship with the creator, redeemer, and sanctifier of the...

Self-loathing. It’s a term that I recently heard that describes how we feel about ourselves. If my 20 years of experience in ministry tells me anything at all, I know that at one time or another we have all done some self-loathing. We generally don’t like ourselves very well, the bar of self-expectation is very high. Most of the time, we loathe (hate) our outer appearances be it hair, weight, or something else about our...

Good Day Friends! I have a poor sense of direction and I admit it! I get lost pretty easily and don’t quite have the hang of how best to use my phone, etc. This problem of being “directionally challenged” reared its ugly head when I went Saturday to perform a wedding. This particular city near me (Lafayette, Indiana) also has several state highways coming through town plus interstate I-65 and Purdue’s campus. Like a lot...

Sunday he came up to me after church to chat. This is his custom whenever I sub at his congregation. I served on team when he made his weekend several years ago and we have even served on teams together over the years. I have always admired his son making his weekend and what that might have been like for this father and son. He doesn’t reunion with anyone, he doesn’t really fellowship with anybody...

Brothers and sisters in Christ: I came into work today and there was a note attached to my keyboard that said “Blessings to you, Doug” and was a surprise! I love receiving notes/cards and I think you do also. In our overly electronic world we have lost the fine art of sending a hand written note or card to one another. Years ago I attended a workshop where it was suggested that we mail a...

Ok, time to confess. I’ve been holding back, haven’t talked about it, but it’s time. Sometimes you can keep secrets, sometimes you can’t. I love the music of Barry Manilow! Bam! It’s out there, I feel better. I’ve loved his music since the 70’s and just really believe his lyrics to be so, so powerful. Who among us doesn’t have a “Mandy” or a “Mark” (whatever the name might be for a boyfriend you let...

Every May, the Indianapolis 500 Motor Speedway is the highlight for visitors from all around the world. I remember taking time off from work to go to the track, or on weekends to qualifications. I’ve even attended the actual race a couple times. One year my friend had a company suite and that was by far the best way to watch the race! We had tons of food and drink with about 50 seats near...

Grace, peace, mercy, and love from God: Father, Son, Holy Spirit! One thinks of Easter – one also thinks of spring. Isn’t it grand to know the grass is greening, trees are beginning to bud, some flowers have bloomed while others are showing green sprouts. The essence of spring is predictable but never precisely. Similar, I think to the God we serve. I opened with: “Grace, peace, mercy, and love from God: Father, Son, Holy...

Hi Friends: I have always wanted to drive a semi-truck! I want to sit up high and feel the power of the huge truck going down the highway. To shift all the gears with country music playing and my CB radio sounds awesome! (I know, I need to get out more). I’m not so interested in living out of the truck, however, as I know some of them have beds and living space behind the...

As my mom’s health has slowly declined early in 2014, it has become my job to escort her to the car after any family event. My dad, on the other hand, mostly prepares to drive away as soon as he can. Because they have 55 years together my mom will just roll her eyes and shrug. My mom is also incontinent so Dad spreads out a couple of trash bags to cover her car seat....

I love children. I love them for their innocence, love for life and unconditional acceptance of God! Last  Sunday at church was  Good Shepherd Sunday with the passage from the Gospel of John 10:11 where Jesus says “I am the Good Shepherd.” The church where I preached had a children’s sermon. I searched high and low through Crawfordsville for something, anything, sheep related to show the children. There are no sheep figurines, there are no...

It is really irritating and makes me so mad! I can’t do anything about it, I did not cause it but every time I get in my car I have to look at the small, spider-sized crack in my windshield. My best guess is a rock flipped up from the highway and hit my front windshield right at eye level(drivers side). I was there when it happened. I was just driving along, I was not...