The cabinets in the fourth grade classrooms are covered with mission models and Native American dwellings. Banners hang from the ceiling and marvelous works of art are attached to the cabinet doors. For someone walking into these rooms, everything would look fine – the same as any year.

In the film Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade (1989), Professor Jones and his father are in search of the cup that Christ used during the Last Supper—the Holy Grail. The search is intensified due to the Nazis also looking to seize articles of power—much like the Ark of the Covenant in the original Raiders of the Lost Ark.

Soul wounds are real. They are the result of our mind, our will, or our emotions being so brutally jolted that a wound is made, leaving a gash that must be dealt with. The death of a loved one, family strife, a wayward child, addictions, accidents, a broken promise, a stab in the back — the list can go on and on.

You didn’t have to grow up in a church family to be familiar with the tale of David and Goliath. It has been used in untold situations as the classic “underdog” illustration.

How are you doing in the friendship department these days? Has the social distancing and isolation of the last year put a strain on your friendships? While this may be true for many of us, it also has given us a chance to discover which friends we can really count on

It seems that we’ve exchanged the old-fashioned value of rest for a hectic, fast-paced, breakneck speed of life. And, as our blood pressure and anxiety elevate, the fervor and passion we feel for our chosen mission diminishes.

For more than ten years, I have been playing drums and singing in a blues band. Over the past few years, I have had the pleasure of introducing some of my own original songs to our band, which have been enthusiastically included in our shows.

After 25 years, I find myself retired from teaching – a career I’ve truly loved. While I was prepared to slow down significantly during retirement, I did plan on staying busy with part time work or volunteer service of some kind.