April 7, 2021
This is one of those great stories where everyone is anonymous, but it all happened here in the last few months and days. It begins with a man who was serving time in prison. We'll call him Paul. When he was released he went to live in faith-based transitional housing. But, the clock was ticking. He had been given a certain amount of time to find a job and save enough money to rent a place to live or go back to prison. For a while it didn't look like he was going to pull it off. But...
March 22, 2021
One of the biggest myths about poverty in the U.S. is that poor people don't want to work. In fact, most American adults living in poverty who can work do work. They are in poverty because they work in low paying, often part-time jobs. Of those in poverty who are not employed, a large percentage are people who are "justice involved", which is a new term for ex-offenders who have been incarcerated.Generally speaking, they are released from prison with little that would allow them to find work...
March 8, 2021
Today in Bible study, the subject was how to have good relationships. The teacher maintained all we have to do, pretty much, is keep the Golden Rule. I'm sure I got that message loud and clear when I was five or so, but who knew my Sunday school teacher was so smart? For those who didn't have a SS teacher, it says, "Do unto others as you would have them do unto you." Different Bible versions say it differently, but Matthew 7:12 and Luke 6:31 both state it with the same meaning. Then I found that this is not a new idea. The first such command dates to an Egyptian 2000 years before Christ and was repeated in many similar forms in writings and religions from all over the world...
February 22, 2021
On the phone with a friend recently, she said, "You know with COVID restrictions I've spent a lot more time with my family." She paused…. "I realize I don't like them very much." I laughed--it was surely a joke. But many families have been under a lot of strain with kids home from school, parents working from home, and many having lost their jobs entirely. We seem to either be suffering from isolation or from too much togetherness...
February 5, 2021
Years ago Jim and I wrote a book on generosity. It began with the classic Starfish Story. You know the one--there are thousands of starfish on the beach dying in the sun and a fellow comes along throwing as many as possible back into the ocean. Another man, walking the beach says to him, "What's the point? You can't possibly save them all." As he launches another starfish toward the water, the fellow replies, "no, but I saved that one."If a starfish is important, how much more is a man or woman?
January 21, 2021
In 1967 Martin Luther King Jr. preached the following words as he pursued peace in a time of change: "Peace is not merely a distant goal that we seek, but a means by which we arrive at that goal." But is peace attainable today? Between super powers? Between political parties? Between neighbors? For anyone watching the news, the answer would have to be "no."
January 7, 2021
Almost 20 years ago my husband, Jim, was paralyzed in an accident. As the months went by and he fought to regain his ability to walk and use his hands, a community of differently-abled people became our friends .Hungry for information, we searched online for websites that might show us better ways to live what might be Jim's new life in a wheelchair. There weren't any such sites. As a former newspaper person, I knew the five million wheelchair users in the U.S. would welcome a site about and for them and within the year, I started a site called People On Wheels.Culling through world-wide news every day to populate the website was a huge job and when the work became more than I could handle, Starr Velez appeared...
December 21, 2020
Christmas time is tough. Especially in times like these when family and friends are out of touch, when others are gathering and we are quarantined, when the normal holiday rituals are just not going to happen. At a time when the Light Of The World is celebrating a birthday, we should be happy, right? We live in consummate luxury compared to most the people on the planet, yet the world continues to dish out difficulties like mashed potatoes at Wheeler Mission on Thanksgiving...
December 7, 2020
Last night was shattered by a call from a dear friend. She told me that a man we all love and respect, a good man in the prime of his life has been diagnosed with a life threatening illness. A pawl has descended over us. We echo that favorite question of all needy Christians: "Why, God, why?" And the response does not come. I saw a t-shirt that had a huge 2020 printed on it. Underneath there was the outline of five stars, with only one filled in. The review said: "Very bad. Would not visit again."
November 23, 2020
Thanksgiving…iving...iving.."Last March, at the beginning of our romance with this virus, I never thought that on Thanksgiving of this year I'd be planning a big gathering for two at a restaurant of our choice. My whole life I've never been at a Thanksgiving dinner with fewer than 18 people--at home with too many cooks in the happy bustling kitchen. But desperate times call for desperate measures. Since we're planning on going to a restaurant, I feel lucky we're in Indiana. I hear California now requires masks to be worn between bites and sips in restaurants there...
