Staff Trax

It has been a year since the coronavirus hit Johnson County. It has been a year since my kids came home from school on a Thursday expecting one more day before spring break, only to not return to school again for classes until after fall conferences.

For other things, it has been more than a year. I have not seen family or friends since December 2019, and some even before that. Most of our…

The readings this week (for Sunday, Jan. 24) all have one thing in common — trusting in God, even if His intentions are not clear at the time. This can be hard, especially when times are tough. Just be still in the fact that God has His hand on everything, and even though you might not see His plan, you need to trust in Him.

The Old Testament reading is from Jonah. God told Jonah to go…

When we think of Christmas, we think of many things — angels, Christmas trees, hanging lights on our house, bells. Some might think of Santa, though we all know he has nothing to do with the birth of Jesus. Do you know why some of these symbols have become a part of our traditions every December?

Angels. We all know the significance of the angels. The angel Gabriel first…

In November, we celebrate Thanksgiving and the start of Advent. We also have had All Saints’ Day, the end of Daylight Savings Time (probably not something to celebrate, as our amount of daylight hours is reduced), and Election Day. Veterans Day is next week, and Christ the King Sunday is in a couple of weeks.

We have honored the saints who have gone before us and will honor veterans who…

Can you imagine having a wedding reception and no one wanting to come? All of the food and drinks are prepared, but no guests have shown up. Would you just go out and invite whomever you saw?

That is what the king in this Sunday’s Gospel reading did. He gave a wedding banquet for his son, but no one would come. He first sent his slaves to bring those who had been invited, but they refused.…

This would have been the first full week of school. Instead, our summer vacation has been extended to September. I really consider it a 6 month summer break at this point, since very little was accomplished academically after spring break. I call it a break, not a vacation; though we would like to have a summer getaway (we haven’t had a family vacation in 5 ½ years), I just don’t feel safe…

For those of you who might have missed it, a historical event occurred on Saturday. Americans were launched into space again. It marked the first U.S.-based rocket launch with American astronauts since the space shuttle program ended in 2011. Ever since, NASA has flown all of its astronauts and international partners to the space station on Russia’s Soyuz capsule. This is the first time they have…

We’ve said it before and I’ll say it again — the church is not the building … it’s the people.

We’ve proven that this past 6 weeks or so that we have been unable to come together and worship in person. From our online services to the inspirational videos by Heather to Pastor’s online Wednesday prayer sessions to Happy Hour Hangout via Zoom … we don’t need to be in the…

It has only been about two weeks now since it began, though it seems like a lot longer. Before then, not many had heard of the term “social distancing.” Now it is a staple in our everyday lives.

Some of us may not have left our homes at all in the last couple of weeks, preferring to work from home and have everything delivered or do without.

Others haven’t changed their…

Did you know that there are not really 365 days in a year? There are actually 365.242 days, or about 365¼. Leap years occur every four years on Feb. 29, making those years 366 days. This Saturday is Leap Day, and we get a whole extra day to enjoy.

Julius Caesar was the one who started leap year. The early Romans had 355 days in their calendar, with a 22 or 23 day month every second year.…