Mennonites | Ain't Complicated

Are you ready for what comes next? Have you voted yet? Are you troubled at the possibilities? Does the potential selection of Mr. _ _ _ _ _ frighten you or cheer you? Do you worry about the state and direction of the United States? Do the polls trouble you? Are you afraid at the prospect of civil unrest, fraudulent shenanigans, riots, anarchy, or totalitarianism?

Perhaps you are a Christian and you just aren’t sure how to vote. Perhaps you think Mr. Trump is vile and vicious. Perhaps you think Mr. Biden is vicious and vile. Maybe you think one of them is a con artist and should be a convict.

Perhaps one of the selections below will help you…or make you feel worse. Whatever the case, let me tell you a little of how I look at politics and/or elections. (I think “normal” American citizens have the duty, honor, and high calling to vote.) Read it all

Faith Builders Virtual Choir: Still With Thee

A classic hymn, beautifully sung in the midst of the novel coronavirus pandemic

Because of the restrictions levied in the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic, Faith Builders Educational Programs had to cancel their choir tour (among many other things). Our son Andrew is a student there. He had the idea of assembling a virtual choir to sing a song to present to their director as a surprise.

He had plenty of fellow students contribute their voices to the effort. He spent dozens of hours bringing all their audio and video together. The result is beautiful! Thank you, Andrew and crew. 🙂 Read it all

Sasha Krause Update: A Poem for Her Killer’s Mother

Pray for her...and mothers still raising their little ones

Welcome home, Sasha Krause

So two mornings ago, on April 21, detectives arrested Mark Gooch for the homicide of Sasha Krause. Gooch was serving as an airman at Luke Air Force Base near Phoenix, AZ. The 21-year-old is from a Mennonite family in Wisconsin, but I gather he never chose to serve the Lord. Whatever the case, he now stands accused of murder.

I really appreciate the short poem about his mother, written by…I don’t know who. I have two sources, and they don’t agree. One attributes it to a lady in the Wisconsin congregation; another, to someone in the Farmington congregation. But never mind that — here you have it: Read it all

Sasha Krause: Lost, Found, Buried

Actually, they found and buried only the body Sasha inhabited for over 27 years.

Sasha Marie Krause went alone to church on Saturday, January 18. It was just a quick trip for some Sunday School materials. She needed them to teach the preschool class the next day at her congregation’s outreach in Colorado.

Unscheduled in the grand scheme of life, that short drive to church was routine in that it was nothing special. She arrived safely…and vanished, no more to be seen in this life by family and friends. But someone else was with her. Someone not yet identified. Someone who took her or her lifeless body to Arizona.

On Friday (February 28) her body completed its earthly travels, this time in Texas to its burial.Read it all