“A man after God’s own heart”

Across my four decades in the Genesee Valley I have been immeasurably blessed by the ministry of three godly senior pastors at the Houghton Wesleyan Church: Mark Abbott, Mike Walters, and most recenty Wes Oden. On the occasion of Wes and Cindy’s quarter century of ministry with us I’d like to pause and pay tribute

Once upon a house…

“There’s a house whose rooms I know by heart,where I hosted friends and celebrated holidays,where dreams were dreamt and memories made,where my children grew up and I grew old.There’s a house where life was lived,a house where I belong.” I knew I’d love you from the start:I walked in on a day in May in

At Twenty-Six

At 26 I had not yet been to Italy;  I had not even seen California. At 26 I had not yet been to Central Park, nor stuck my feet in the ocean. At 26 I had not yet experienced a computer, the wonders of the internet, nor a smartphone. At 26 I had not yet

Black Lives Matter

As I do every evening, I was walking my faithful collie right outside my home last night.  A pick-up truck drove–much too fast–past me, but because Tillie was safely out of the road, I barely noticed.  Until it reached the crest of the hill beyond my house, slammed on its brakes, and someone yelled back

“I’m Just Different.”

In my six decades on earth, I have encountered a lot of sadness, tragedies, outrages, and injustices, and the pace of these events has decidedly accelerated since January 20, 2017.  Sometimes it feels as if life is but a tug-of-war, with hope and happiness on one side fighting against darkness and despair on the other.

One thing, every day

(cover photo credit: Matthew Weidenbach, Illuminated Shadows Photography) This past weekend gave me the privilege to be a part of history: marching alongside thousands of others at the Black Lives Matter/Stop Killing Us Protest Rally in Rochester, NY. People of all races and ages met in Martin Luther King Jr. Park, listened to speeches, meditated

Out of Many, One.

To My Conservative Friends & Family, If you’re seeing this, it’s because you haven’t unfriended or unfollowed me on Facebook, and for that, I’m grateful.  Throughout this period in our history (one of many, actually) of deep and bitter political division, I have steadfastly refused to unfriend anyone based on our political differences.  A couple

Education marches on….A letter to my students

My Dearest Students, So now we are embarking on a new adventure in education.  Who could have foreseen this when we first sat down together in January?  Our world has turned upside down just since the last time we met as a class.  I looked sadly at the kitchen counter today because I had bought

The judgment of history is on you, Senator McConnell: do the right thing.

Dear Senator McConnell, I’m writing to implore you to carefully consider the judgment of history in this perilous moment.  I completely understand the intense party loyalty and pressure that you must feel. It has to be tempting to think about 2020 and the November election and to focus on doing battle against the Democrats. You

If we had the chance to do it all again…

I came across a photograph of my high school graduation this week and was struck realizing that two of my friends in the picture and I are cancer survivors and the other two males in the picture, in line behind me, are both already dead.  It has me reflecting on the capriciousness of life. There