Advent 2023 – Joy
A match is struck, and a tiny flame bursts out. That tiny flame is used to ignite something else. During advent, the match ignites a candle. When I think of…
Author: Dale Heinold
Colors of Christmas – Silver
What exactly is the color of silver? Except for some nuance of shading, silver shares its color with chrome and stainless steel. It is easily mimicked by tinsel. (Does…
Dewey Springs
The village of Dewey Springs is nestled somewhere between never mind and you’re lost. There’s a small cluster of buildings clad in aged wood and peeling paint. The center of…
Advent – Peace
The theme of Advent’s second week is peace. Of the four advent themes, peace often seems the most fickle and challenging to experience. Human conflicts, large and small, are frequent.…
The Colors of Christmas – Red
Red seems to be everywhere when Christmas comes around. It is the most common color for Santa’s suit thanks to Coca-Cola. Red balls, bows, and lights hang on many Christmas…
Advent 2023 – Hope
There are many traditions around Christmas. Large traditions, cultural traditions, church traditions, and family traditions. These are the things that make Christmas what it is—a reminder of things past and…
Signs of the Season
Over the past week, our home has gone through a transformation. Let’s just say, “It’s beginning to look like Christmas…” The green ivy over the window has been replaced with…
Love Hopes
Hope is a tricky thing. Sometimes hope is what keeps us going like a glimmer of light at the end of a long tunnel. But hope can also blind us…
With Thanksgiving!
How to start, that is the question. How do we start a conversation with family, friends, co-workers, or God? Those opening words create an atmosphere for everything else to rise…
Ready For This?
Over the past few days, I’ve heard folks lamenting, “I’m not ready for winter.” Yep, things are changing from the balmy days of summer, through the crispness of fall, and…
Building UP
There are parts of the Bible we tend to leap over. The lengthy geologies scattered throughout the text, for instance. There are also sections that no longer seem to apply.…
Standing With Israel
I don’t often write about current events on these pages, but today is different. While wars and rumors of wars have always been with us, the current battle in Israel…