Joy in the Journey

Target Recognition Growing up in rural Central Pennsylvania, one learns about hunting at an early age. The first time you are old enough to get a hunting license and spend a day in the woods hunting was a rite of passage.  When you are learning to hunt, you are taught the importance of identifying your target.  You need to be absolutely sure that what you are aiming at is what you are hunting.  You need to identify the target is in fact a turkey, or a deer, or a bear, or even a squirrel.  This is important because you do not want to shoot something that is not a turkey, deer, bear, squirrel.  And you certainly do not want to shoot another hunter.  You need to verify your target and if you can not, you do not shoot.  This should be common sense, but it still needs to drummed into young hunters.  The thrill and excitement of the hunt may cause a moment of misjudgment that could have tragic consequences. I was reminded of this the other day as I drove past a billboard reminding t

Well Done, Good and Faithful Servant Remembering Jean Thompson, Choir Director and Friend On Saturday, March 22, a dear mentor and friend died.   I  knew Jean Thompson since my years in grade school.  She was the music teacher that would attempt to teach me something about the thing that she loved the most, music.  And while she was teaching me about music in grade school, she was teaching a girl about singing in the church choir.  That girl would eventually become my wife.  I would eventually start attending the church were she led both a children's choir and an adult choir for almost fifty years.  I joined the choir and Jean continued to try and teach myself and the other guys in the back row something about music. Jean quickly became more than the choir director for myself, my wife, and my daughter.  She also became a close friend who would spend time discussing music, faith, and life with me.  She supported me as I moved from laity to ministry.  I would often t