Village Voices - We don't write papers, we build scrapbooks

Occasionally when a member of our church is moving out of the area, they will ask me what they should look for when they are searching for a new church? I always tell them one of the first things...

A day in the life of … With the advent of the Internet and the smartphone and everything in between, I enjoy going online and watching farmers at work in different parts of our country. These farmer...

Recently I officiated at a funeral for a child who died suddenly. I’m sharing part of the message from that service in today’s column. This is a difficult day. We all want to help, but none of us...

Traditional wisdom comes from the old adage: “Early to bed, early to rise, makes a man healthy, wealthy, and wise.” In the technology-saturated world we live in today, that wisdom may be...

When my wife and I were first married we bought a small, 13 inch portable television. To get reception we’d adjust a set of rabbit ears on the back, twisting and turning them to pick up the...

Following are notes from my “diary” that I sent out to the people praying for me before, during, and after surgery to repair a hernia: I’m healing well, thanks for your prayers and concern. The...

I’m sitting here tonight on the eve of going under the knife tomorrow. For the past few weeks I’ve been dealing with some lower abdominal pain. I found out this week I have what is called an...

For the Christian living in the world today, things seem a little bleak. There is moral rot and decay all around us. The morality and teaching of the Bible is ridiculed and mocked in our culture and t...

For the last several weeks the fighting between Russia and Ukraine is front and center on the world’s stage. (Step aside Covid). But the struggle we all share is - how can we help? We are so...

Lately I’ve been reporting on the story of a ministry in Romania that has been taking in Ukrainian refugees as they flee their war torn country. The work of this mission has been on-going. The...

In last week’s column, I wrote about how our church got involved with helping Ukraine refugees escape the war zone of their country and find sanctuary at a Bible camp in Romania. That story continue...

The last few days we’ve had some excitement here at good ole’ Martintown Community Church (MCC) in Martintown Wisconsin. The eyes of the world have been on Russia and the Ukraine. For some...

I get to meet some very interesting people. Recently I met a gentleman who is 74 years old and still driving a cement truck for a living. He has been driving one for more than 35 years. He loves his...

Recently, while on vacation in Florida, I went with a friend to an auto mechanic shop where he was getting his car repaired. The owner was an amiable guy and quite chatty. As he worked, he told his...

Last week my fun was getting stuck in the snow. Two weeks ago it was thawing frozen water pipes. This week, my fun was in the sky. My wife and I took a little holiday and went to Florida to celebrate...

This time of year is always significant to my wife, Cindy and I. We celebrate our wedding anniversary on February 14th. This year has special significance because we are celebrating 40 years of marria...

A few years ago we noticed that our church sign was getting kind of old and in need of some repairs. It had probably not been updated for about 20 years, other than to add names and change service...

Somebody asked me one time if I ever run out of stories to tell? The answer is No. Never. Everything that happens in life is a story waiting to be retold - and it’s usually a lot funnier the second...

We had a little incident last week in our neighborhood. The police dubbed it “The Barefoot Bandit.” The story goes that a guy was traveling down our road when he got stuck in a snow drift. He had...

A group from our church just returned home from a mission trip to Kentucky where we helped clean up after the tornadoes. Following are the daily blogs I sent home while we were gone. Day one: Hello...

Who is considered the most important person in history? To answer that question, computer scientist Steven Skiena and Google engineer Charles Ward got together and developed a system that ranks...

Did you ever notice that a woman’s “I’ll be ready in 5 minutes” and a man’s “I’ll be home in 5 minutes” are exactly the same? This is the time of year when we usually look back and...

Birthdays must be good for you because statistics show that people who have the most, live the longest. (Anonymous) I like to write. I write this column, a church newsletter, plus a note on the back...

Silence is golden, unless you have kids, then silence is just really suspicious. Well, we made it through Thanksgiving which means all the pumpkins in front of the house can finally be disposed of....

My teeth were stained, so the dentist asked me, “Do you smoke or drink coffee?” I told him I drink it. Last week I had a funeral in Amboy, illinois. Amboy is exactly 83 miles from my house....