I have worn glasses since high school, and although I once wore contact lenses, my glasses are now my daily companion and essential. My glasses are on my face nearly the entire time I am awake each day. If I take my glasses off while around my grandchildren they look curiously at my face and will tell me to put on my glasses back. I don’t look like myself. They do not recognize me without glasses o…
When I was in the 5th grade, my family moved to Murrysville to our new home. We lived on the corner of a cul de sack, which was the epitome of cool for a young child growing up. That circular street would over the years be the arena for all manner of sporting events. It was our hockey rink. It was our baseball field. It was our battlefield for snowball fights. It was a legitimately safe place,…
If you had to evacuate your home in 10 minutes and never return, what items would you take with you? This extremely difficult and emotional decision has been a reality for millions of Syrian refugees and others from war-torn countries. Prized possessions are abandoned. Photo albums are often left behind. When you’re forced to flee for your life, the list of items you can carry becomes very small a…
This past Saturday I was one of our church’s volunteers at Produce to People (P2P), the Greater Pittsburgh Area Food Bank’s food distribution program. Our volunteers went to an elementary school on Pittsburgh’s near North Side by Allegheny General where we sorted large containers of loose vegetables and then handed out 30 pounds or so of fresh vegetables and other food to over 450 needy indiv…
Living our faith is not always easy. As humans we have our flaws. These flaws distract or lead us away from a faithful life. So how do we consistently and faithfully live a Christ-focused life, especially regarding the words we choose to use? I find that at times I let emotion get the better of me. Driving is a common trigger for me that fires up a negative emotion. The words I conjure up in my…
