I bought my first computer in 1982, a Commodore 64. It used a 340k floppy disc and operated with machine language. After typing in the machine code, the little floppy started to whirr ... and whirr ... and whirr a little more. It whirred so long that I could get a cup of coffee or make a san…

There are times when God seems very near. We feel his forgiveness, acceptance, comfort and peace. Our hearts are filled with joy and songs of praise for his goodness and beauty. But what about the times when God seems far away?

Sunday is Valentine’s Day, a traditional day when we express our love to those who mean the most to us: heart-shaped boxes of candy, cards, flowers and a candlelight dinner.

I like teachers. They’re my favorite people. They work long hours, are up early preparing for classes, on their feet most of the day, grading papers and writing lesson plans late into the night, and they often spend their own money to help their students.

Most of us first experience grief as a child with the death of a pet who shared our childhood. Many dogs, cats and birds have been buried beneath carefully turned soil moistened with childhood tears.

I came across comments from a prominent preacher regarding the deplorable condition of young people. He complained they were characterized by “inexperience, indiscretion, immature judgment, uncurbed curiosity, undisciplined appetites and misunderstood passion.”

Now that a vaccine is available, it seems like the holy grail, the cure-all that will make it possible to see our grandchildren, host friends for dinner, visit restaurants, attend church, go to the movies and travel. I have vague memories of those days and long for them once again.

Nothing is as challenging as being a parent. Children have no on/off button. They cannot be put in the closet like clothes, turned off and parked like cars or placed in a kennel for the night like pets. They’re on a constant quest: poking, prodding, pushing, pulling and climbing.

Congregations often attend to the physical as well as spiritual health of their members. Local houses of worship — pre-COVID — often served as venues to screen for hypertension and educate those living with diabetes.

No year in my lifetime has been welcomed more than 2021. Multiple vaccines have been approved with the promise that we will be able to put the COVID-19 threat behind us by mid-summer.

The headline in a newspaper (not this one) screamed in block caps, “Drastic Action to Halt Epidemic: Schools and Theaters Closed and Public Gatherings Prohibited.” The year was 1918, and that Christmas Day was grim by any standard. There was an eventual total of some 675,000 deaths from the …

Last week, my wife baked cookies, brownies and snacks for our neighbors. We both donned our masks and walked down the street distributing bags of Christmas goodies to our friends, a token of our love and appreciation for them during this COVID year of 2020.

Normally, Christmas is a family event. Brothers, sisters, parents and children go to great expense to see each other. They drive hundreds of miles, fly across the continent or around the world to celebrate the holidays together. But, for many families, like ours, not this year. We’ve postpon…

If you’ve been reading these columns, you’re familiar with my dog, Buddy. Buddy came into our lives 11 years ago, a sick and skinny rescue dog picked up off the streets. When we met him at Corgi Rescue, we could feel the bones in his hips, and he was suffering from “kennel cough.” But 15 min…

How will COVID-19 change this Festival of Lights, which celebrates a successful Jewish revolt against foreign oppression?

Recently, I started the day outside on our deck under a clear pre-dawn sky. The stars were brilliant, Orion settling in the west. A meteorite streaked across the sky just before the east began to fade into gray. No sooner had the crimson and gold dissolved into the soft pastels of morning th…