Pastor's Blog - RECKLESS GRACE

PASTOR LANETTE S. VAN
February 3, 2012 10:39 am

  An interpretation of the Story of the Prodigal Son from Luke 15:11-24 It's dusk.  The front porch light is on, just as it has been 24/7 for months and months.

A good bad day

VINTON TODAY
February 2, 2012 12:29 pm

  May the worst of your days begin with tangled cords. I had a bad day on Thursday. Or, in this era when my job as a journalist is the most fun it's ever been, it does not at all deserve to be called a Bad Day; it's only a day with a  few inconveniences.

Pastor's Blog - 'Waiting'

PASTOR LANETTE S. VAN
January 27, 2012 10:08 am

  Luke 2:22-40 Greg Brown has a song called "Waiting."  Everybody's waiting for something:  the county fair; the return of a friend; a bus to take them to someplace better; a new job; a personal epiphany or spiritual enlightenment.

Why America usually succeeds, even when Presidents disappoint

VINTON TODAY
January 22, 2012 12:43 pm

  Maybe we expect too much from our politicians. Maybe we never were supposed to like our political leaders, even the ones we vote for.

Pastor's Blog - Samuel, Nathaniel, and the US Supreme Court

REV. MARK URLAUB
January 20, 2012 10:26 am

  The Supreme Court of the United States on January 11, 2011, unanimously decided in favor of Hosannah-Tabor Evangelical Lutheran Church, a congregation in the Lutheran Church-Missouri Synod, in a suit brought against the congregation over the firing of a teacher in its parochial school.

My midlife crisis: Going for the shiny new things

VALERIE CLOSE, EDITOR
January 19, 2012 10:58 am

I'm one of those practical gals.   I grew up in a family where we didn't learn how to splurge, and don't even ASK for the shiny new things.

The law to end all pathetically-named laws

VINTON TODAY
January 19, 2012 10:56 am

  The latest congressional circus involving the laws to regulate Internet piracy is just one more reminder of how out-of-touch Congress has become.

Going home, at home

JEFF HOLMES
January 15, 2012 9:32 pm

  When we moved back to Vinton in 2004, we were, in effect, moving “home.” We were moving back to Iowa, to my hometown, to the area we both grew up.

Pastor's Blog - What if???

PASTOR JIM BLAIR
January 12, 2012 4:25 pm

  Jan. 9, 2012-             This last weekend I got to watch a part of the Broncos vs.

Explaining the late, warm, winter

VINTON TODAY
January 11, 2012 5:06 pm

  It's time to put away the mitts, and get out the gloves. Stocking caps -- if the weather folk are right -- will replace ball caps tonight as we finally have our first real taste of winter I have heard maybe one person lament our non-white Christmas; the rest of us were too busy enjoying the warm weather.