The Church of Baseball by Charlie Smith I am a diehard baseball fan. I’m old-school enough to even keep a scorecard at games, a dying art that seems invariably to draw attention and leads to newfound friends and conversations. My top bucket list dream was fulfilled in 2015 when I attended Game One of the […]

  Wishful Thinkin’ The seasons of our lives… By John M. Settle I recently experienced an event that almost all of us will have to face at some time in our life. On May 30th, 2022, my mother, France Rose Settle passed away peacefully in her home. Her two sons, two daughters-in-law and three of […]

All Nature Sings by Franci Hart The Field Museum of Natural History in Chicago is brimming with thought evocative exhibits ranging from jewels and precious stones to displays about different cultures, animals and plants. My favorite, though, is the exhibit “Evolving Planet.” This massive exhibit narrates the evolution of our earth and the development of […]

Everyone Knows…. Or Do They? by Charlie Smith In the Kansas town in which I was a pastor, the community arts festival was a big deal. The church that I served was an organizer of the inaugural festival many years before and remained a major benefactor. In gratitude, festival organizers annually provided one of the […]

  Breaking Up with your Comfort Zone is Hard to Do by Emily Lang When I was 17 my mom and one of my teachers conspired to enter me into our county scholarship pageant. It wasn’t that I was some great beauty – it was that I was painfully shy, and they thought forcing me […]