Jan 16, 2023 | Pondering and Kindling
Joe E. Trull tells of a primitive tribe located deep in the South American jungles. Anthropologists learned the most important role within the tribe was the “keeper” of the flame. Since fire is so precious — and takes such effort to recreate —...
Jan 9, 2023 | Pondering and Kindling
Truth gets our attention in all sorts of ways. A Chicago suburbanite put on a last spurt of speed to catch his train but missed it. A bystander remarked, “If you’d run a little faster you would have made it.” “No,” the suburbanite replied, “it wasn’t a case of...
Jan 4, 2023 | Pondering and Kindling
As a preacher and writer, I use a lot of words, hopefully most of them simple with meanings well known. Lately, maybe because of my age, I find myself doubting the way I have spelled a word, and I check it out. Most of the time I use my cell phone, but as a creature...
Jan 2, 2023 | Pondering and Kindling
It was hard to believe: 162-year sentence deemed excessive. That was the headline (Commercial Appeal, Dec. 16, 2022). The story was of a man, Courtney Anderson, who in 2020 was sentenced to 162 years in prison for repeated non-violent offenses. I found it difficult to...
Dec 23, 2022 | Pondering and Kindling
As a preacher and writer, I use a lot of words, hopefully most of them simple and the meanings well known. Lately, maybe because of my age, I find myself doubting the way I have spelled a word, and I check it out. Sometimes I use my cell phone, but as a creature of...
Dec 20, 2022 | Pondering and Kindling
Our language reflects dominant issues in culture. I don’t know when it began but we hear a new word a lot these days: woke. I have to keep looking up the meaning: an adjective derived from African-American Vernacular English (AAVE) meaning “alert to racial prejudice...
