Step forward in faith!
Your heart is pounding and your stomach is attempting back flips in those tense moments before the ceremony begins. Gowns are donned, and caps are straightened. Then you march into…
In Christ
My handwriting is bad. So bad, in fact, that even doctors—infamous for the unintelligible scribbles—look at my handwriting and say, “What did you write?” With that mea culpa (or if…
Unprecedented
“COVID-19 pandemic, an ‘unprecedented wake-up call’ for all inhabitants of Mother Earth.” “Unprecedented damage by COVID-19 requires an unprecedented policy response.” “Unprecedented!” The word screams at me from the headlines…
COVID casualties
More than four million infected and 148,866 deaths. Those are the coronavirus statistics shared by the US Centers for Disease Control at the end of July. Meanwhile, the World Health…
Getting older. Getting closer.
As a young boy, sometimes I’d think, In the year 2000, I’ll be 45 years old. Wow, that’s old! Guess what? My perspective has changed—in part because the year 2000…
A man with unclean lips
The word “hell” keeps popping up in my reading these days. No, I’m not talking about my daily study of Scripture. I’m talking about the newsfeeds on my smartphone. These…
All I want for Christmas
Glenn L. Schwanke Age 7: “All I want for Christmas is my two front teeth, my two front teeth, see my two front teeth.” Age 9: “I want an official…
The Lord, our shield
Glenn L. Schwanke August 15–17, 1969. Woodstock. Over a half million people flocked to Max Yasgur’s 600-acre dairy farm in upstate New York. There they rocked to Joan Baez; the…
On grief and grieving: A Christian perspective
Glenn L. Schwanke In 1969 Elisabeth Kübler Ross published her groundbreaking book On Death and Dying: What the Dying Have to Teach Doctors, Nurses, Clergy and Their Own Families. The…