A brief discourse on the role of the church in child welfare and well-being, presented to the Louisiana Interchurch Conference’s Fall Board of Directors Meeting, on September 25, 2017, at St. Xavier Cathedral Catholic Church Complex, Alexandria, Louisiana. Good afternoon! You cannot imagine how excited I am to share a…
rick wheat
For 22 years, I searched for something that does not exist. Finally, I quit looking last week while standing in front of an angry, hungry lion. I watched his angry behavior and learned an important truth: with lions, it is not personal. Brody is a male lion living at Turpentine…
I wrote an article recently for my Multiple Sclerosis Caregiver blog. It’s titled “Tears of Hope and Passionate Hate”. In it, I used words I find myself using more frequently as I grow older. The phrase is, “tears behind my eyes”. I’ve used the phrase recently to describe a day…
It’s the sure repetition of small, beneficial acts in a marriage that creates value for the relationship. Significance is often discovered in the small things. Fortunately, because taking care of the small stuff in a marriage often requires the least effort while offering the greatest return, it makes sense to…
I am a happily married man! I enjoy my wife and our life together. Today I made reservations for us to return to our honeymoon cabin in Arkansas next March for our 20th anniversary. I’m filled with joy over it. I have a photo which I took on our honeymoon.…
What do you think about God? Have you ever been afraid to follow a thought trail about God because you were worried about where it would go or concerned you might have a “dangerous” thought? Theological brain storms can move a lot of stale brain-air and refresh the cavities of…
I “met” John Donne in high school and have been grateful since. Here’s my favorite of his Holy Sonnets. (Hint: Read it slowly about 50 times.) Holy Sonnets: Batter my heart, three-person’d God Batter my heart, three-person’d God, for you As yet but knock, breathe, shine, and seek to mend;…
The mind you save may be your own. Here’s more good news for coffee drinkers from our Finnish friends: Midlife coffee and tea drinking and the risk of late-life dementia Midlife coffee drinking can decrease the risk of dementia/Alzheimer’s disease (AD) later in life. This conclusion is made in a…
How really wrong is wrong? And when does wrong become wrong? Recently, Madoff made off with as much as $50 billion in investor funds placed in his trust. It was a Ponzi scheme that began years ago. I wonder how small the first act of deceit was. Was it $10,000…
I've had my eye on a 9 quart, Lodge Dutch Oven for quite a while. I bought it today with Christmas gift money from my parents. And I got a great deal on it at our local hardware store. Because it's cast iron and will last hundreds of years, it's possible one of my great, great, great, etc., grand children will use it, too.