Life In Greencastle

The dry leaves scrapped against the pavement - pushed along by a pleasant breeze - and the earth is being soaked in the sunshine. It feels good, doesn't - offering a renewed sense of life and freedom? Seems like the perfect time for Spring Break, and I have seen the evidence of those who are going away for even warmer weather: the minivans and SUV's packed full. Sometimes we need those breaks. We need those moments when we can separate from normal routines and rhythms and get a fresh vision of life again. Sometimes that comes from sandy beaches and sun on our skin. Other times, though, the new perspective is given to us exactly where we are. Such a moment occurred for me this past week. I was reading about the thoughts and teachings of our old Reformed teacher: John Calvin - the French minister with an exacting mind and heart full of God. I was reading what Calvin had to say about modern topics like the environment and sustainability. That's when I ca...

Professor Doug Harms, who worships with us occasionally, was noted on the DePauw website recently about a trip he took with several students to San Diego. While there, Doug and the group got a glimpse of the reality of homelessness. Read more about the trip here . ~Wes

"Measuring Our Worth" by Henri J. M. Nouwen It is not difficult to see that, in our world, we all have a strong desire to accomplish something. Some of us think in terms of great dramatic changes in the structure of our society. Others want at least to build a house, write a book, invent a machine, or win a trophy. And some of us seem to be content when we just do something worthwhile for someone. But practically all of us think about ourselves in terms of our contribution to life. And when we have become old, much of our feelings of happiness or sadness depends on our evaluation of the part we play in giving shape to our world and its history ... When we start being too impressed by the results of our work, we slowly come to the erroneous conviction that life is one large scoreboard where someone is listing the points to measure our worth. And before we are fully aware of it, we have sold our soul to the many grade-givers. That means we are not only in the...