Melissa recently came across the old title How to Win Friends and Influence People by Dale Carnegie, first published in 1936.  I am sure I read it years ago, but the lessons didn’t stick with me back then. Now? I am just a few chapters in but it is affirming many of my recently formed convictions about human nature. For example, on page 13: “When dealing with people, let us remember we are not dealing with creatures of logic. We are dealing with creatures of emotion, creatures bristling with prejudices and motivated by pride and vanity.”  Or this, on page…

Melissa and I eluded Covid for nearly a year and a half, but it finally caught up to us.  Melissa tested positive a few days ago and it has hit her pretty hard. Nothing that is trending toward a hospital visit by any stretch of the imagination, but definitely miserable. I guess now I had Covid myself a few days before her, but mistook it for one of my ongoing sinus battles. It is such an odd disease. It is difficult for me to comprehend how it has been so deadly for so many when for me it has ranked…

You know that superstition that the news of deaths always comes in threes? I have experienced that this week. And each of the three was completely unexpected. I knew each individual; some better than others. And each one has left other people that I know and love reeling in shock and grief. The individuals who passed ranged in age from 74 to just a child.  Of all the various theological battles that the Apostle Paul fought in the pages of the New Testament, none seem more foreign and puzzling to me than what is recorded in 1 Corinthians 15. There…

As part of my application to the doctoral program I am hoping to begin in October, I am supposed to write a “spiritual autobiography”. Here’s the start of my first draft so far:  At 53, I know there are more years behind me on this planet than are in front of me. I have recently concluded that I may well have two or three decades left, assuming I hit the 70- or 80-year mark. As an eternal optimist, I believe that these coming years could quite possibly be the most productive years of my life. And as my years advance,…

It’s the third full week of school and my 8th graders are spending 4 of their 5 available class periods taking standardized tests in English. (And 2 in math.) Next week I will be expected to print out reports for all 75 students, analyze their weak areas and begin to develop plans to remediate those who are behind grade level in various skills.  This is side work while continuing to develop lesson plans from scratch, grading each paper in a timely manner, addressing individual behavior issues, communicating with parents, answering daily emails, and keeping the online learning platform up to…

“I screwed up!” were Samuel’s first words when I answered his phone call last night as he ended his third full day as a freshman on Ball State’s campus.  It turns out that his first official college lessons had just taken place: 1) Parking signs should be read carefully and 2) They mean business.  Instead of immediately moving his car to his assigned stadium parking lot, he had left it in the church lot across the street from his dorm. For about 24 hours too long. Now it was gone and the cost to retrieve it was going to be…