The Secret Wireless

As a community we have seen some awesome things lately.   I am using that word loosely.   A tornado is awesome, not because it is good or desired, but because when you see it and the damage that it leaves in its wake, it makes your jaw hit the floor.   Perhaps the better word is “fearsome”.                 Besides the destruction and devastation, however, there have been many awesome things.   There was the quick response of individuals to help their neighbors.   Many of you drove to New Minden to help pull people out of the rubble and to pick up the pieces of their lives.   You went to the various farms and outlying homes that had been hit and worked into the dark helping to make the clean-up that much more doable.                 And then you stayed.   You did not come for just one day, but...

(To the members of St John’s and Trinity, the citizens of New Minden and Hoyleton, to all those affected by the storms of life and seek from the Lord great and abundant mercy; grace, mercy, and peace be with you from God our Father and our Lord Jesus Christ.)                 How do you comfort someone who is almost literally going through hell?   That is the pastoral task that was before Jesus Himself as He hung on the cross between two thieves.   “Lord, remember me when you come into your kingdom,” begs the one.                What do you say to someone like that?   How do you offer them comfort, hope, assurance that everything is going to be ok?   What could even Jesus possibly have to offer this man now?             What could I possibly say to comfort yo...

          I'll come out and admit it.  I have been reading Rick Riordan's books.  So far I have read all 5 of his Percy Jackson and the Olympians  and this first 4 books of the Heroes of Olympus .           I would love to have a good excuse for this, like I get paid to write reviews of kids books, but I do not.  The only real excuse I have is that I teach in a school where students read things like this and so I want to know what they are reading.  (That is the reason I read the first Twilight book, but I only read one of those.)             The real reason I have read his books, at least this particular series, is that I enjoy mythology.  Greek, Roman, and Norse myths in particular have always held a fascination for me, and I enjoy stories, movies, and books, that indulge in these myths.       ...