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

“What Are You Hoping For?” As our nation and the rest of the world is engrossed in this coronavirus epidemic, I’d like to offer perspective, encouragement and hope. We don’t know what the fina...

Today I’m going to continue on the theme of overcoming the Fear Factor. I think there is more fear and uncertainty out there now than there was even last week. People are genuinely scared. We faced...

Fear and Panic The world is a mess. I don’t have to tell you. There’s pandemic panic, there’s financial turbulence with the stock market, people are still digging through the rubble in...

And it came to pass. There’s a guy in our church who says his favorite line in the Bible is: “And it came to pass.” He said it reminds him that whatever he is going through in life, it too...

There is a young man in our congregation who is in the military and was deployed to Afghanistan. We decided we were going to send him a care package from home a couple times a month. A family in our...

There was a new preacher in town in need of a lawn mower. Someone in his congregation heard about it and brought him over one that was well used. When it came time to cut the grass, the preacher got...

A couple of years ago while shirt shopping I stumbled across a pair of shoes that were on sale. I don’t really like shopping so when I absolutely have to go, I try to get it all done at once so I...

By now the Super Bowl is ancient history as is the hysteria around it. I hope it’s not too late to comment on it one last time - but - here goes. Going on my own instincts and observations, it...

(Forgive me if I’ve told this one before) … But … one dark night outside a small town in the midwest, a fire started inside the local chemical plant, and in a blink of an eye it exploded into...

Well here we are in the last few days of January already. Perhaps the winter blues have set in. The mornings are still dark and night comes way too early. It’s too soon to predict what kind of winte...

Computers, smart phones, smart TV’s, smart thermostats, smart doorbells, smart alecs, and now smart houses - how do us dumb people keep up with all the smart techonology these days? Now they even...

We should all swap problems; everyone knows how to solve the other guy's. You know, every now and then in a person’s lifetime, someone comes along who really leaves an impression on you. I met an...

Happy 2020! A new year, a new decade, and great eyesight. Remember when Y2K was the big scare? Our computers were going to shut down. We weren’t going to be able to bank or buy gas or groceries. Our...

An elderly widow decided it was too much trouble to get all of her kids and grandkids’ Christmas presents, so she decided to send them a check with a card. A few days after she mailed all the...

Ready or not, Christmas is upon us. It came fast this year. I have a friend who vacations in Jamaica at Christmas time. One year he told the Jamaicans it was 20 below back in Wisconsin. Their reply:...

This is a shout out to the Lena-Winslow football team. It’s amazing how you just keep on winning and winning. Another Thanksgiving, another championship. We have people in our church from the...

Don’t worry. Eat happy. What makes Thanksgiving great? Well, besides the history of the holiday, and the food - just about everything. As a kid growing up and working on a farm, our number one goal...

So here we are - kind of in the middle of nowhere. We had snow before Halloween this year, which meant my family was making Christmas plans very early. There’s something about snow that puts the...

It’s always darkest just before the dawn. Have you noticed how dark it is in the morning just before the sun comes up? It’s always like that this time of the year. This has nothing to do with the...

Snow is magical. (Or so I’ve been told). We’ve come a long way, baby. That was the theme for a billboard advertisement a few years ago. I think it had to do with women’s suffrage. But it really...

It’s all about the candy. I’ve read in the news where some schools in California, Illinois, New Jersey, and Vermont are cancelling Halloween celebrations and parades. Their argument is that some...

It’s kind of early to be talking about Christmas but it’s everywhere already - especially on the Hallmark Movie Channel. I like an occasional Hallmark movie around Christmastime. I take some heat...

If you were given 100 million dollars but the only way you could collect on it is if you continued to work a 40 hour week for the rest of your life, what job would you choose? Life comes at us in all...

Have you ever felt insignificant, or not important, or like you’re not even in the room? Several years ago, my wife and I visited Chuck Swindoll’s church in Dallas, Texas. Chuck Swindoll is a well...

Being prepared is one thing, being in all out panic is something else. Around these parts when a big snowstorm is coming people go to the store and buy groceries, they top off their gas tanks, bring a...