Wondering Presbyterian

                True enough, winter is coming. It feels like fall just got here. A team of us raked leaves up at church today and while raking, there were flurries. I’ve been hearing from a lot of people that coming of winter, the lengthening of the night/shortening of day, and the upcoming holidays are especially stressful this year. Given our current pandemic circumstances, this is no surprise. A lot of people seem to be in agreement: this could be a hard winter.             When the pandemic hit last year, it came at the tail end of winter and we had spring right around the corner. We were grateful for the warmer days that we could spend outside while we were experiencing the first round of quarantines. Now November is passing, Thanksgiving is next week, and we’re all kind of wondering: how’s it gonna be?               It could be a hard winter. No doubt for many, it will be.              But I also think we have a chance to try and do what we can to make it better. I’ve been readin

              I took the week off last week. I was supposed to be in Ohio meeting a friend that I haven’t seen in over a year, but when we looked at the pandemic numbers in the Midwest, we decided it might be better to hold off. But while we couldn’t go to Ohio and actually be in the same physical location, we did not let that defeat us. We set up our devices and had a virtual play date. For over two hours, we talked and laughed and caught up on all the things about life. It was not the same by any stretch of the imagination, but it was something.             That’s been my sort of mantra lately: “at least it was something.” Something feels better than nothing. Something is filled with possibilities and hope and a promise. And these days, don’t most of us need the somethings that come with possibilities, hope, and a promise?             One of my favorite stories of the Bible is the story of Naaman. We find Naaman’s story tucked into 2 Kings (you can read the whole story at 2 Kin