First Presbyterian Church of Valparaiso

I have fought the good fight. I have finished the race. I have kept the faith. -2 Timothy 4:7 NIV In my 50 years on this planet, I have been blessed with glimpses of the life eternal that is promised by our Savior. This past Saturday, I witnessed one of those glimpses. This past Saturday started very early. My youngest, who now runs cross country for Ben Franklin, had a meet at Woodland Park in Portage. Ansen’s race started shortly after 9:30; and Tracy and I had 12 minutes

“Hello, this is Pastor Roger, would you be able to take me for a little drive this afternoon?” Kansas native Pastor Roger was relatively new to my mother’s United Methodist congregation and was preparing to officiate my mother’s funeral service on the following day. My brother, and my sister and I were only too happy to get out of the house and take a drive out into the wide open spaces of rural southern Nebraska. As Pastor Roger got in our rental car, he made a simple reque

Although there are still warm days to come, the year has certainly turned to autumn in the beautiful rhythm God has built into the created world. Interestingly, no one really knows where the word “autumn” came from. It is a very old word. It was used by Chaucer in the 1300's and later by Shakespeare, but its origin is lost in the mists of history. The more common word for the season is the word “fall” - - more descriptive certainly in describing the action of the leaves and

In a conversation with one of my sisters last week, she bemoaned the end of summer. “It’s over. It’s fall already.” When I pointed out that we had, at that point, at least four weeks until the official start of fall, she replied, “Nope. Farmer’s Almanac says we’ll have an early fall and a long, very cold winter.” Keeping in mind that this sister is generally less than optimistic about most things, I changed the subject. But her gloomy prediction stuck with me. I try to relish