1
A few weeks ago, we lost the internet at our house. To fix it, we needed a technician to come out, and so for five days, we lost our connectivity. Like so many of us, we have become utterly dependent on those fiber cables that bring us our music, ent…
4
Two of our four worship services this weekend at St. Paul are jazz services (9:00 & 11:15 a.m.). It’s the 26th consecutive year (minus two for the pandemic) that our distinguished group of jazz folks from Chicago will lead us in worship. It’s als…
1
For his Eagle Scout project, St. Paul youth Sam Dickman created a place for youth to study and serve God, connect with their peers and enjoy the beauty of the outdoors for years to come. 14-year-old Sam Dickman worked hard to reach this accomplishmen…
I have a special music playlist on my phone titled ‘Amen.’” It’s a list of songs I compiled that help me better understand who God is and who I am to God. Some of these songs fit the “spiritual/religious” genre, like “How Can I Keep from Singing?” by…
2
One of the joys of parenting, I’ve discovered, is watching your child learn. Sometimes I swear I can actually see the wheels turning as our one-year-old figures out a new skill or realizes he’s capable of some new physical action. I’ve particularly e…
1
The World Games opened in Birmingham, Alabama today – all those sports not included in the Olympics but that players wish would be. Everything from Ju-Jitsu and Sumo to canoeing and waterskiing are part of the Games. Orienteering is the one that fasc…
4
Maybe you’ve heard before that the most repeated command in the Bible is “Do not fear.” By some counts, those words are spoken as many as 365 times—enough to hear it once every day of the year. Everyone from God to Moses to the psalmists to choirs of…
The Memorial Garden received a spring makeover thanks to a new partnership with local non-profit One Eighty. St. Paul’s 70-year-old safe – weighing in at 1,600 lbs. – spent a few nights on the church’s driveway before heavy equipment arrived to haul…
2
On Sunday, the carillonneurs from Iowa State worshipped with St. Paul at the 11:15 am Open Spirit service before unloading their instrument from a large freight truck and setting it up on the North Lawn for the 3 p.m. concert. When they greeted me as…
9
While driving across the western half of Wisconsin earlier this week, a Department of Transportation sign caught my attention: Over 19,000 deer were killed on Wisconsin roads last year. Yikes. That’s an average of 52 deer per day. Extrapolating from…
1
A new restaurant, nestled in the heart of downtown Rock Island, is putting healthy, nutrient-dense foods on tables for everyone, regardless of financial situation. Owner Laura Mahn’s 20 years of ideas, experiences, and plans have brought NEST Cafe to…
7
I bought a bouquet of peonies from the grocery store last week. They were tight balls of green with a hint of bright pink, about the size of golf balls. I trimmed the stems and put them in a vase of water. My kids called them our “boring ball flowers…