Puerto Rico: A Lesson in Hope

A week ago, I returned from Puerto Rico, where I’d spent the previous week helping to rebuild a home destroyed by Hurricane Maria. Almost immediately, my wife and I began preparations for Thanksgiving. It was, to say the least, a disconcerting juxtaposition of events. Puerto Ricans have spent the last year working to recover from … Read more

Gettysburg

On our way to Carlisle to be a part of the Celebrate the Book Week, my wife and I stopped at Gettysburg, our first visit to this landmark in a terrible war.  Here I am at the monument erected to the 1st Minnesota Volunteer Infantry Regiment. In the great battle fought at Gettysburg, the 1st Minnesota—or the … Read more

Sacred Places

The earth has spirit. You can feel it everywhere. But in some places, the power of that spirit makes itself known in extraordinary ways. When I stand at the edge of Lake Superior and watch great waves roll in across that vast stretch of steel blue water and break against the rocky shoreline, the power … Read more