Drake

 I'm a native of Des Moines, Iowa. I am pleased to report that Drake University in Des Moines is launching a new degree program to prepare students to help people with disabilities to live full and self-directed lives. With academic work and hands-on training students will be able to focus on advocacy, employment opportunities, school systems and more for people with a variety of disabilities. Good news at a time when people with disabilities are being dismissed and disrespected.

Blizzard

 We are having a blizzard!  It's dangerous outside and the world is in danger, too. Hear John's Gospel: In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God.  All things came into being through him, and without him not one thing came into being. What has come into being in him was life, and the life was the light of all people. The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness did not overcome it. 

Kwanzaa

 Happy Kwanzaa! Kwanzaa is an annual, week-long celebration of African American culture, family, and community, observed from December 26 to January 1. It is a cultural, non-religious holiday designed to honor African heritage and instill pride and unity within the Black community. 

Christmas Day 2025

 Opening presents by the fire at the home of Rachel and Joel, Jennaya and Jackson. Talked by phone with Mark in Phoenix. Reminisced with different versions of family history with Kirk and Rebecca in Dennison, Texas. We had a wonderful Christmas Day.  Of course, the greatest gift of all is Jesus Christ.

Christmas Eve service

  A blessed Christmas Eve! "Silent night! Holy night! Son of God, love's pure light. Radiant beams from thy holy face, with the dawn of redeeming grace. Jesus, Lord at Thy Birth, Jesus, Lord, at Thy birth.

Winter solstice

 It's 4:30 p.m. and the sun has gone down. This is the shortest day of the year here in Mason City. "In the midst of winter darkness, life itself seems cold and gray. . . come, o God, we pray with light and peace."

Christian nationalism

 

Christian nationalism is behind the U.S. new security posture. The focus on concerns of “civilizational erasure” stokes fear that secularism, social liberalism and multiculturalism are dissolving a divinely inspired social order. We are not God's chosen nation. We must not turn against other nations and religions.

Citizenship

 People who have studied for years to become U.S. citizens are being e-mailed at the last moment that their naturalization oath ceremonies are being cancelled.  Trump is also trying to strip naturalized citizens of that citizenship. Cruel!

Trump's Speech

 Trump's speech to the nation Thursday night: Unbelievable; simply unbelievable

Christmas as a stranger

 I visited a small town in another state. Christmas celebrations begin three weeks early because of trying to arrange all the various extended family gatherings. There is an assumption of family. A new single person in town--a teacher, a pastor--is not unwelcome. It's just hard to know how to welcome a stranger when people have never been one.

The magnificent sun

 The magnificent sun!  It's bitterly cold this weekend in the upper Midwest. However, all the windows of our apartment are on the south side and the sun this afternoon is shining brightly.  Our heat is not on. It's 2 degrees outside and 75 degrees inside. We pray for those with no heat and no shelter.

The Third Sunday in Advent. Joy! In the midst winter's darkness (and freezing temperatures), we await Jesus who is the source of our light and joy. 

The World is Watching

 The world is watching. What do they see?  The U.S. conducting lethal attacks on small boats in the Caribbean.  U.S. troops seize an oil tanker off the coast of Venezuela. A U.S. president threatening the president of Colombia, saying "He's going to be next."  What do you want the world to see in regard to the U.S. both inside this country and beyond?

Concentration Camps

Dec. 7 Pearl Harbor Day! The U.S. began mass incarceration in concentration camps of Japanese Americans very quickly after Pearl Harbor, just two months after the attack,

During World War II, over 120,000 people of Japanese descent, the majority being U.S. citizens, were forcibly removed from the West Coast (California, Oregon, Washington, Arizona) and some from Hawaii without trial. This policy was later acknowledged as a grave injustice, leading to official apologies and reparations through the Civil Liberties Act of 1988.

An ICE detention center opened this year at Fort Bliss in El Paso, which was used to imprison people of Japanese descent during WW II, will be able to hold as many as 5,000 detainees making it the largest federal detention center in U.S. history. 

 

Candlelight

 "Candlelight: A Choral Celebration of the Season" at North Iowa Area Community College Thursday night. We enjoyed five choirs and a guest harpist.  Son Joel, choral director and his wife Rachel, pianist, both teach at NIACC. A wonderful evening.

Christmas Tree at Prairie Place

The tree will soon be going up in the vestibule at Prairie Place on First where we live. We wait and watch for the coming of Christ. Advent is here. We wait and we also pray and work for those suffering in this dark and dangerous world. 

 

Police

 Police Early Saturday morning police cars stopped a man in a white truck in front of our building on First Street. Sirens and many flashing lights woke residents shortly after 5 a.m. For two long hours police aimed their handguns and rifles at the man. He would show his driver’s license out his window but did not get out. Eventually there were ten police vehicles outside. When the man finally did come out, he was quickly taken into custody No one was hurt. Prairie Place was in no danger during this time.