As a pastor, I’ve eaten at my share of church potlucks. Potlucks are community meals in which everyone brings something to share. Some potlucks have more than enough food to go around, while others have a limited amount of food. I’ve noticed that people tend to fall into two categories
There is a lot of uncertainty in our world right now. We have no idea how or when this global pandemic will end, or how many times lockdowns will happen. We also don’t know what any of this means for our loved ones, our jobs, or the state of our
Note: This is a guest post written by Will Platnick, husband to The Christian Minimalist and Senior Platform Engineer at Paige. My father passed away after a fluke accident earlier this year. In addition to all the usual things that happen with grief, it was a tough time for
As we begin to think about what life may look like after a global pandemic (even while we are still dealing with the pandemic, at least in the U.S.), it can be very tempting to fall into “going back to normal.” This is especially true for those of us who
For the last month or so, my husband Will and I have spent some time doing what everyone who has lost a close loved one can relate to—cleaning out my Father-in-Law Norm’s house. Norm was a relatively modest man; except for his collection of illustrator artwork and specimens/lab equipment on
Note: This is a guest post written by Zach Labagh, Pastor at Allegheny Evangelical Lutheran Church in Mohnton, PA. In the last few months, due to the pandemic, I found myself and my family changing how we function completely. Our calendar that was full has now diminished to online and
During this global COVID-19 pandemic, many people have turned to a practice called comfort buying. A close sister to retail therapy (and some people have used the terms interchangeably), comfort buying is when consumers buy things solely to bring comfort to themselves in difficult times. Comfort buying is not always
On Wednesday April 8th, my Father-in-Law Norman Platnick died. He had been in the hospital for 1.5 weeks following a nasty fall down the stairs and severe head trauma and stroke. My husband Will and I were not allowed to visit him in the hospital here in Philadelphia due to
On March 7, we left to go on an 8-day cruise to the Caribbean for a planned family vacation. At that point, the coronavirus (COVID-19) had been spreading in other countries and there were a few cases on the West Coast of the U.S. Since there were no travel recommendations
Note: This is a guest post written by Sean Ewbank, Director for Evangelical Mission/Assistant to the Bishop in the Southeast Michigan Synod, ELCA. “You have a unique opportunity to begin again.” Those words were spoken to me by my dear friend as we stood in front of the smoking ruin