There is a shadow that follows many of us around. A shadow that lurks in the corners of our vision. This shadow makes us react in ways that we thought we never would. The anxiety attached to this shadow make us plan our lives along paths that are not of God. This shadow is the fear of failure. Many are crippled by it without ever understanding why. We can begin to understand the fear if we start by recognizing we are in a broken world. God never desired the world to be broken

Marco and I just returned from a 2 week-visit with family in Italy, and it was wonderful as you may suspect. Both his daughters were with us, and we even had the occasion to visit with some cousins Marco hadn’t seen in over 20 years, Giovanna and Gianluigi. They are teachers in Milan, and they and their wonderful 6 – year old son, Francesco, met us for dinner in the Navigli district of Milan. Navigli is a historical neighborhood named for the system of interconnected cana

This week I went for a hike. I joined two men who I have known for more than a dozen years to hike a short portion of the Appalachian Trail. They were both members of my congregation in Ohio and now are pastors of their own churches. We enjoyed experiencing the beauty of the Blue Ridge mountains in Virginia. We enjoyed encountering wildlife - toads, snails and even a deer with allergies (or so her sneezes seemed to indicate). Most of all, we enjoyed being known. With our shar

Often when we think about Christ’s disciples we picture the Last Supper by Leonardo Da Vinci. All the disciples in that painting are older and bearded. However, there is a theory that many of the disciples where young men, maybe in their teens. In those days boys as young as 15 could study under a Rabbi. The only disciples that seem to be older were Peter, who had a mother-in-law, and Matthew who was a tax collector. In Matthew 17:24-27 Jesus sends Peter to catch a fish and i