Rob Lewis tells of one person who paid goodness forward in a donut shop. On the day the governor of Illinois issued the Corona induced shelter in place order, I met at Dunkin Donuts with someone struggling to make ends meet. He ordered coffee, and I suggested he get a half dozen donuts for his […]

Monica Hupp shares with us how she chooses life even in the darkest times. During these uncertain times as the COVID-19 is ravaging the world I’ve asked myself three questions.  Will I let this ravage my mind, will, and emotions and let it feast on my peace of mind? Will I sink so low in […]

Jennifer Merck summons us to our mission field. Dorothy Esther Roush Kuhlmann — my Grandma Kuhlmann, Dottie to her friends — was born and raised on a dairy farm in Western Michigan. She moved to Chicago, but her little sisters stayed in Hastings. As I was growing up, this is where we visited Aunt Mary […]

There is nothing like a crisis to bring out the best and the worst in people. In the extremities of life we find out who we are. We are hearing and reading many stories of heroism and egotism in this time of pandemic. “Every society tells stories,” writes Jonathan Haidt, “and those stories involve good […]

Rob Lewis shares the rest of the story…read to the end! Stepping into God’s Story The Bible is the story of Jesus, God become man, by which the catastrophe and mortifying shame of the human condition becomes the means by which we become living human beings – the glory of God. “Liberty is the chief […]

Rob Lewis writes about entering into the life of a church visitor. Post 1 of 2 Chris first came to our church on a Sunday in mid-November last year, and stood quietly and obtrusively just inside our front door. Our narthex is a small space, an intersection between two flights of stairs where two or […]

Rob Lewis tells us why he’s going to Kinyago Dandora Schools in Kenya. “I am not eager to go to Kenya, but I will out of a sense of duty.” This is what I recently told Ginger Palm, president, CEO of the Kenya Children’s Fund and spiritual mother of the Kinyago-Dandora Schools in Nairobi, Kenya. […]

Jennifer ponders Pentecost and the power of language. Language When our children were little and misbehaved, we didn’t talk about punishment. Instead, we talked about consequences. We wanted our children to understand that their choices were theirs: every moment is a fork in the road; they could make good choices, or they could make poor […]

Jennifer wonders what God might be doing with what we’ve undone. June 10-11 Beirut => Frankfurt, and then two days and two nights in Frankfurt. Frankfurt => ORD I’ve been thinking about Joseph: Jacob’s Joseph, the favorite son, he of the Coat of Many Colors. After the coat, after the dreams, after the pit, after […]

Jennifer Merck writes about our treasure, as measured not by how much we have, but how much we give from our hearts.“For where your treasure is, there will your heart be also.” (Matthew 6:21)   My husband, Hal, and I have lived in the area together for 26 years and both attended Wheaton College prior […]