Blog
Dear Church, Last Sunday I had three hours and forty-four minutes running through the twenty-nine neighborhoods in Chicago to reflect on the last ten and a half years serving First Church. It was as if....
Dear Church, This week is my annual pilgrimage through the 29 neighborhoods throughout the City of Chicago. Like last year, my brother Kyle is flying out from Los Angeles to run with me and....
Dear Church, As you have probably read or heard by now, we have accepted a call to serve The Reformed Church of Bronxville. I’ll save my goodbyes and my gratitude for....
Dear Church, I saw some of the truest love and faithfulness last week. I had scheduled a visit to serve communion to Chuck and Janet Detmar. They live just a few houses down....
Dear Church, A few weeks ago, I wrote a blog titled “30 Years or 3 Months.” That was a question I posed to Rich and Monty Riddering. Did it feel like thirty years or three months that they were in the....
Dear Church, I got together with a friend on the morning of Labor Day for a nice, easy, humid run. This friend has been connected to my life for nearly the past ten years. I’ve journeyed with him through....
Dear Church, One of the great beauties of the Bible is that it has the uncanny ability to never cease bearing wisdom in our lives. In fact, a great mistake that can be made when reading the Bible is to....
Dear Church, “Miss Jackie is sick,” Bram said as he sat on my lap sitting next to Jackie Rietveld’s hospice bed. “Can the doctor make her feel better?” he asked me. “No,” I said. “Miss Jackie is resting until....
Dear Church, For nearly three years, the name “Nancy Zivkovich” has been uttered in prayerful petition from the pulpit of First Reformed Church. Nancy was technically not a communicant member of the church, but her....
Dear Church, Does it feel like thirty-years or three months? That was the question I posed to Rich and Monty Riddering as we sat together in the “Pub Area” of the Symphony Rehabilitation Facility in....
Dear Church, Have you heard of “The floss”? Don’t feel bad if you haven’t, this is a dance that apparently all the kids at Will’s school are doing. Now, please hear this in the gracious spirit in which it....
Dear Church, I got a phone call on Monday afternoon from Mike Ryan of the Tews - Ryan Funeral Home in Homewood, IL. He was calling to see if I was available to officiate a funeral on Wednesday....
Dear Church, “Dear God, we love you. We love Miss Lynn. Please heal her so she can get out of the hospital. And like my Dad said, he isn’t doing her funeral for a really....
Dear Church, Disappointment. This is what Willem experienced on a steamy Monday afternoon at Harborside Golf Course at the “Drive, Chip & Putt” local competition. This is a competition like....
Dear Church, “Trust the Lord with all your heart, and don’t depend on your own understanding. Remember the Lord in all you do, and he will give you success.” (Proverbs 3:5-6) “All that you do.” That part is...
Dear Church, This past Monday was our first Summer Serve Day when thirty-four of us partnered with Chicagoland Prison Outreach for a day of service. A handful of us went to lead a worship service at....
Dear Church, I didn’t grow up with my cousins around. It wasn’t because of some family rift, just that five of them lived two hours away in Battle Creek, three of them lived three hours away in the....
Dear Church, The weather we’ve had the last week or so has been pretty crummy, especially last weekend. I will admit my ability to be an active and engaged parent decreases when the weather is lousy. So....
Dear Church, I’m currently teaching a new class that I’ve never taught before at Trinity Christian College. The class is called “Biblical Perspectives” and in five weeks it attempts to be both an Old....
Dear Church, I’ve been having some fun with those of you who emailed me this week already preparing for Sunday’s pop-quiz on the three points from last week’s sermon. Spoiler alert – there will be....
Dear Church, My brother Kyle attends City Church Long Beach in Long Beach, CA. He heard this in church last Sunday and passed it along. It’s from a pastor in the state of Washington named Bob....
Dear Church, The boys and I got Sarah a hanging basket of flowers for Mother’s Day. She had been dropping hints. But what she really wanted was about three...
Dear Church, One of my favorite things to do as a pastor is officiate a funeral. I know it sounds somewhat morbid, but I would much rather officiate a funeral than a wedding. At a wedding, most....
Dear Church, How many Bibles do you have in your possession? I’d set the over/under at two and take the over. My guess is that the clear majority of us have at least two Bibles to our name and many other....
Dear Church, While I am very rigid in many areas of my life, my time in morning devotions takes many forms. Sometimes I go through a Proverb a day for a month. I’ve gone through Psalms. I’ve....
Dear Church, I can think of a few places I’d rather spend an hour than at the Secretary of State’s office. Yet, that was where I found myself on Monday afternoon. I should back up. I received an email that my vehicle registration was....
Dear Church, A special thanks to my friend, Ray Ondrejka, for writing last week’s blog. I was able to read it while I was at Cocina Beach on Anna Marie Island in Florida. I was enjoying spring break with....