Christmas greeting, with bonus 12-20-11 Moon closeup and KJV 400th anniversary article

Merry Christmas to all my readers! My wife thought this photo looked like a “Moon bridge to the stars.” :O) So I decided to share it as part of my Christmas greeting: 7:53 AM CST 12-20-11 (13:53 UT), 8″ reflector telescope, 25mm eyepiece, 2x Barlow. Click for larger view. This article was originally published in [...]

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On being a small part of something big and excellent

Below: The Concordia Choir performs Eric Whitacre’s Lux Aurumque (“Light and Gold” in Latin) at the 2005 Christmas Concert of my alma mater, Concordia College, Moorhead, Minnesota My college and others like it are preparing now for this year’s Christmas concerts, and I love seeing and hearing each new group of young people participating in [...]

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The Price of Groceries and Telescopes, and the True Value of the Soul

This article was first published in the West Douglas County Record on April 14, 2011: When I was a sixth grader, in the Autumn of 1976, my teacher gave us an interesting assignment: she handed us a long, detailed list of typical grocery items, and asked us to go to the store and write down [...]

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The Miracle of the Found Wedding Ring

This article was first published in the West Douglas County Record on March 31, 2011: Anyone who has lost his or her wedding ring knows the awful, sinking feeling I knew for one year and eight months. At my job at Donnelly Manufacturing in Alexandria, we can’t wear finger jewelry on the production floor, and [...]

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A few thoughts about Pluto

This article was first published in the West Douglas County Record on January 20, 2011: Sometimes when people find out that I’m an amateur astronomer, they ask me whether I agree with Pluto’s “demotion” from full planet status in 2006, and they’re often surprised to find out that I’m OK with it. One reason why [...]

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My slow ascent to athletic averageness

This article was first published in the West Douglas County Record on February 3, 2011: It’s now (as of early February) just about one year since the Winter Olympics in Vancouver, and three years yet till the next Winter Olympics in Sochi, Russia. I’m one of those rare “in-between” people in regards to sports. There [...]

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Cast your bread upon the (snowy and icy) waters!

This article was first published in the West Douglas County Record on January 6, 2011: Five years ago this winter, when I was pastor of two churches in South Dakota, three of my parishioners who lived near the “Country Church” were on their way at dusk to a mid-week study 17 miles away at the [...]

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Not quite ready for the rehearsal!

This article was first published in the West Douglas County Record on December 9, 2010: Once when I was in college (back in the mid-1980s!), I was enjoying a mid-morning snooze at about 9:30 on Saturday morning, when the telephone rang. I sleepily got up and answered the phone. It was my cello teacher, Dr. [...]

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Early in the morning, while it was still dark

I’m happy to report that I completed my paper for the Dead Sea Scrolls course at the Spertus Institute of Jewish Studies. [*Big sigh of relief*] This article was first published in the West Douglas County Record on November 25, 2010: Many people enjoy hunting this time of year, not just for the sport or [...]

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Life lessons about difficulties, anger, and patience

This article was first published in the West Douglas County Record on November 11, 2010: Here are three important life lessons I’ve learned, mostly the hard way: First, a lesson about facing difficulties. Lots of people mistake difficult things for impossible things, because they both feel the same: they both feel difficult! But difficult things [...]

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