We have a red loveseat couch in our office at Hopewell Counseling. Couples who come for marriage counseling typically sit together on the couch while Irv and I sit on chairs facing them. As we counsel with them, we are hopeful that they will gain insight into their situation and that they will learn some new ways of relating to each other and better ways of handling problems and concerns. 

During the past four weeks I have been learning some lessons myself – not from the red couch in our office but from our couch at home. I have been spending a lot of time there due to a significant injury to my right shoulder from a fall on Memorial Day. I think it is important not to waste the pain, and I think it is interesting that some of ...

The number one song on the contemporary Christian music charts is “Reckless Love” written by Caleb Culver, Cory Asbury, and Ran Jackson and published by Bethel Music. You’ve probably heard it on a Christian radio station. It has some wonderful lyrics:

Before I spoke a word, You were singing over me
You have been so, so good to me
Before I took a breath, You breathed Your life in me
You have been so, so kind to me

Chorus:

Oh, the overwhelming, never-ending, reckless love of God
Oh, it chases me down, fights 'til I'm found, leaves the ninety-nine
I couldn't earn it, and I don't deserve it, still, You give Yourself away
Oh, the overwhelming, never-ending, reckless love of God, yeah

We sing it at our ...

Signed in convention on September 17, 1787. and ratified June 21, 1788, the preamble to our constitution is a masterpiece of power and brevity. Here’s what it says,                                                                                        

We the People of the United States, in Order to ......

When Elsie, the children, and I moved to Minnesota from California in 1982, we were taken on a driving tour of the west metro by one of the couples on the call committee of the church. We had moved into the comfortable parsonage but were unfamiliar with how to get from there to the church. So the goal of the tour was to acclimate us to our surroundings, show us the nearest supermarket and gas station, and help us navigate our way to the dentist’s office (one of the kids had an abscessed tooth). The couple pointed out various sites and the tour was informative if uneventful except for a remark by the husband. He pulled me aside and said to me that coming from California I was in for a culture shock. The culture in Minnesota was unique ...