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I remember the exact moment the University of Iowa psychologist gently told us that our two-year-old son was being diagnosed as having autism. I remember the weight of those words and the feeling of devastation as all the hopes, dreams, and goals I h…
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“For though my faith is not yours and your faith is not mine, if we are free to light our own flame, together we can banish some of the darkness of the world.” – Rabbi Lord Jonathan Sacks I stumbled upon this quote recently. It seemed quite timely an…
I have been a teacher in the Bettendorf school district for 24 years now, with 22 of them at the middle school. One day last week, as I walked the locker room to make sure everyone was safe and ready to go to the next period, one little boy volunteer…
It was New Year’s Day 2017. It was wintry and blustery outside the ICU in that hospital in Peoria, Illinois. Inside, the world was collapsing around me. I had just watched my 51-year-old son, Chris, die of a rapidly moving septic shock, the doctors p…
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A few weeks ago, I took part in the holiday ritual that happens in homes around the world this time of year. I ventured into the storage area in the basement of my house and dug out the boxes of Christmas decorations, the nativity scene, and tree orn…
When I got my first preschool teaching job, I was so excited. I wrote very detailed lesson plans for the first week, arranged the room until it was perfect. I bought the cute name tags and made one for each of my kiddos’ cubbies and chairs. Little di…
A few weeks ago, I saw a picture that said “Despair: It’s always darkest just before it goes pitch black.” While I got a good chuckle out of this picture, it highlights a major part of human nature, which is to focus on the pessimistic side of any si…
Our 3-year-old grandson, Ryan, while visiting from Colorado last summer, saw fireflies for the first time in his life. He was fascinated. I take for granted this spectacular summer display, as I grew up in Illinois and Iowa. It never occurred to me t…
I learned about chiaroscuro when I studied art and photography in college (hear how to pronounce here). It means “light-dark” and the technique is often associated with Renaissance Italian artists like Leonardo da Vinci and Caravaggio. The artist dar…
Everyone has a nightlight of one kind or another; maybe it’s a fun superhero or the light in the hall or the streetlight coming through the window. It provides a sense of security, a habitual part of our bedtime routine, and helps us to see in the da…
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While in Jackson Hole, Wyoming, a few years ago, my wife and I stepped into a small church for Sunday worship. With thirty or so other people there also to praise the Lord, we sat together beneath the hum of ceiling fans, sneaking occasional peeks at…
Six St. Paul members were born on December 25. Jim Keller will celebrate his 69th Christmas birthday this year, Quinn Strickler will celebrate her first. A few days late, Christmas Quinn a gift Everything was ready by early December. Hana Strickler w…