First Presbyterian Church of Valparaiso

I love autumn, particularly late October! The beauty of God's creation is on full display with the amazing repertoire of colors cascading through what seems to be an infinite number of leaves on (and off) northwest Indiana trees. Yes, the different shades of red, orange, brown and yellow help symbolize God's incredible presence in our lives. But amongst the changing leaves, we now see a plethora of candidates' signs promoting those running for leadership positions within our

t's the Halloween season. I really enjoy this time of year. I have many pleasant memories of Halloween activities that have occurred in my life time. In fact, I still think back to a lock-in at my church, on a Friday night Halloween, watching Steven King movies on the church VCR. During this time of year, I also enjoy sneaking in a few scary movies and TV shows. Even as an adult, I sneak these movies in. If my children ever see them, I would not get any sleep for at least a

This time of year, you don't have to go far to stumble over reminders that it's harvest time in our corner of the Midwest. It never ceases to amaze me how big a deal that "harvest" seems to have become to people who have never ventured anywhere near an actual working farm or orchard. All you have to do is visit a place like County Line Orchards on a warm October weekend to be amazed by all the ways our culture has found to market pumpkins, corn stalks, and bales of straw that

October is about the best month of the year at least in terms of nature's beauty. The mix of red, yellow, orange, green in the leaves on the trees can just stop me in my tracks! Plump Pumpkins everywhere! In the fields and gardens, in front of the grocery stores, on the porches in my neighborhood - - not to mention pumpkin latte signs luring me to the coffee shop. Chrysanthemums! bunched in dark maroon, rust, yellow, purple, all coming to life after a summer of dormanc