“The opposite of love is not hate, it’s indifference. The opposite of art is not ugliness, it’s indifference. The opposite of faith is not heresy, it’s indifference. And the opposite of life is not death, it’s indifference.” Elie Wiesel, the Hungari...

I was frustrated with the return to cold weather, snow, and rain. I was walking from my kitchen to the living room, and I was thinking to myself how bored I was. I wanted to be outside! I sat down and asked the kids if they wanted to do something....

This last week, I needed an injection in my eye. They numbed it well, so I didn’t feel a thing. They used an Eye Speculum to keep my eye open so I wouldn’t shut the eyelid. I instantly thought of the scripture in Matthew 13: “So they show that what...

Easter seems early this year, and I’m not ready to celebrate it. The holiday allows me to contemplate my relationship with Jesus and what it means to be a Christian. I often fall into the trap of wanting God to take care of me, to fill my needs, and...

Years ago, before my wife and I had kids, she would commute about 40 minutes to work every day. When I had days off in the middle of the week or came home from work early, I would sometimes use the time to surprise her. This would usually involve...

This year, I have been preaching through the book of Genesis’ accounts of the lives of the Patriarchs of the Jewish faith. Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, and Joseph are considered to be the founders of the Jewish faith and the starting point for God d...

Kierkegaard once wrote: “Life can only be understood backwards; but it must be lived forward.” To be more accurate, this is a summary of a journal entry he wrote. The idea is quite simple. We can only really understand our lives by looking back at wh...

Many years ago, not long after I first got married to my wife, I worked in a retail electronics store for about 6 months while looking for work as a youth pastor. That included several months of Christmas retail sales. It was pretty genuinely...

A few years ago, I participated in the Master Gardener class that was offered at the Big Sandy Library. Learning about plants, soil, landscaping, and other topics was quite informative, but I think the best part of the class for me was learning about...

The biblical book of Genesis in the Old Testament tells the story of Joseph. Joseph was Abraham’s great-grandson. He had 11 brothers but was favored above the others by his father. His father’s open favoritism toward one son and early signs that Jos...

Best restaurant in town! The SENIOR CENTER has an amazing menu! Fantastic, cooks and exciting foods that I had never heard of. They really put a lot of a love and creative work into their meals. My favorite was chicken stirfry on rice cooked just rig...

I have been writing columns for the Mountaineer for around 11 years. At different times, these articles have dealt with marriage, family, spirituality, depression, other mental health issues, and a plethora of other topics. Every year over New...

A new year is always a time for reflection. During December, I heard the word hope many times and realized I needed to renew my hope. Life is hard, and sometimes depression tells us the future is bleak. Listening to politics never mentions how the...

Are you a reader? I am a definite wannabe reader! I absolutely love searching for books, buying books, and having a ton of books! Have I read them all? NOPE! I have good intentions of reading them, and sometimes I do, but if the book doesn’t c...

Christmas 2023 I can’t help but stop my hectic life and think about what I need to do for Christmas. Once again, I didn’t get decorations up, once again, no letters, no Christmas cookies, and I still don’t have all my presents bought. But I have...

Christian author, Jeanette Lockerbie once shared an anecdote about her daughter: “Four-year-old Martha, hugging a doll in each of her pudgy little arms, looked wistfully up at her mother and said, “Mamma, I love them and love them and love them, but...

Over the weekend, my wife and I took the kids along on a run to Great Falls for Christmas shopping. I generally enjoy taking the kids along for grocery runs or out for meals in town. However, there’s something about the Christmas season that turns t...

My younger brother runs marathons. He intensely trains for them in the months, weeks, and days leading up to race day. Sometimes those races involve particularly difficult obstacles, like running up a mountain or in Death Valley where the heat...

Every year, Americans fail to spend $23 billion dollars in gift cards. That’s an average of $187 per person in gift certificates, Amazon cards, Starbucks bucks, and other monetary gifts they’ve received and left in a drawer somewhere doing not...

Over the weekend, I officiated the Celebration of Life (memorial service) for Ronald Christiansen. Anyone who has lived in Big Sandy for more than a few years knew Ronald and his twin brother, Donald, because the pair dutifully spent their days...

Whenever I watch a television commercial or read about a new product making amazing claims about how a new medicine or kitchen gadget will change my life, I find myself asking “Does it work?” I read reviews, reach out to friends who have tried it,...

What’s the use of owning my own newspaper if you can’t write what’s important to me? I just recently spent a weekend with my brother and sisters at the family cabin at The Pines Recreation area on Fort Peck Lake (ok, it’s really a reservo...

After The Last Supper, not long before Jesus was arrested and turned over to be crucified, he taught a flurry of last lessons to his disciples as they traveled to the Mount of Olives to pray. Perhaps one of the most powerful things he said at that...

Before every meal I ate with my family growing up, we would pray the Lord’s Prayer. When I was young, I don’t think I really understood what it meant. But as I got older, it made more and more sense to me. One line that I understood early on, but hav...

Giving Back I had spent the entire day from 10:00-4:00 watching football in Box Elder starting with Junior High Football. It consists of 5th, 6th, 7th, and 8th graders. It’s a fun watch, but a long watch. Two hours of watching young boys learning a...