Man, about half of our church family is out sick with this respiratory thing!  Whatever virus this is, I’d really like it to stop chewing on our FCCers -- well, and on everyone else in Central Illinois...

As I write this, my printer isn’t working, my car just made a truly nasty sound when I parked, and my cell phone is suddenly no longer able to make or receive phone calls.  It’s been that kind of day for mechanical devices for me, I suppose...

Pentecost Sunday is always an interesting day, if for no other reason than it’s always interesting to see how God wants us to celebrate and remember it.  In past years, we’ve had people read Scripture in various languages, or provided sound effects of a rushing wind, or Sara even let me set her hair on fire one time…

Apparently, Central Illinois is struggling with the second round of this super-flu that’s been going around since early April.  So I’m on my second round of antibiotics, and half of our church family is coughing and blowing their noses and/or home with a fever.  Please be praying for all of your sick brothers and sisters…

Before I forget, let me wish all of you the chance to spend time to honor Memorial Day! Whether you call it “Memorial Day” or “Decoration Day,” or point back to the Civil War or World War I for its inception, or use the day to honor those who have died or those who have retired or those who are currently still in uniform, the whole point of this weekend is to genuinely appreciate those of us who have placed themselves in harm’s way, to help prevent that harm from reaching the rest of us…

God’s got an amazing sense of humor -- the kind of high level, “this is only funny if you put pieces together that you’d never have thought would have had anything to do with one another but upon retrospect you realize constitute a huge shaggy dog story that the angels have been giggling for weeks anticipating the punchline for” sort of joke…

Before I forget, let me wish each and every one of you reading this a Happy Mother’s Day…!

Before I forget, let me wish each and every one of you a very Happy Cinco de Mayo! Having said that, do you know why people celebrate Cinco de Mayo…?

For a Sunday when half the church family was out with whatever nasty sinus infection eventually turned into bronchitis for me, we had an amazingly special, beautiful day together in worship!

Before I forget, let me wish each and every one of you a very Happy Resurrection Sunday!

Welcome to Holy Week!  Every day has its own traditions and rituals, and if they draw people closer to God and deepen their genuine relationship with Him, then I’m all for them…

Somehow, it feels like this year is flying past at a much faster pace than most years do.  Everyone seems to be running around, just trying to keep up with life.  So let me encourage all of us to take a moment to stop, take a deep breath, hold it, then slowly let it out -- and let’s remind ourselves that God’s pace is the same yesterday, today, and tomorrow...

Man, things are starting to ramp up into full gear as the weather warms and Spring is coming upon us...

We had a bit of a bittersweet weekend at First Covenant Church this week, as we celebrated the homegoing of Cliff Johnson on Saturday morning.  It was poignant and sad to say “Good-bye” to our friend and brother -- and yet, it’s never entirely sad to take part in the funeral of someone who so clearly had a warm and loving relationship with God, because we know precisely where Cliff is now, and that he’s with his Lord (and with Carol)…

Before I forget, let me begin by wishing all of you a very Happy St. Patrick’s Day!