Musings

Do you feel a push at every New Year to make a list of resolutions? An agenda to create the changes in your life that you have wanted to make? These “lists” can sometimes feel more like pressure; something to judge ourselves by if we don’t complete, stay on...

By Rev. J. Pete Hyde The holidays are over! Something inside of me wants to jump up and down and shout HALLELUJAH! I just couldn’t separate myself from all the job activities to really “get into the spirit of the season” this year. Now, the decorations are almost all packed up and...

By Sean Dietrich New Year’s Eve—Sacred Heart Hospital, the pediatric unit. Tonight the whole world is celebrating. I can already hear firecrackers in the distance. But on the third floor, the women in my life are gathered around a sick baby. My sister’s daughter, Lucy, was born ten days ago. She was...

By Rev. J. Pete Hyde The morning broke cold and blustery - temperatures in the 30's and wind chill in the teens. As I lay in the half-slumber that is early morning, I looked out the window that sheltered me from the cold winter's day. The sun was just touching...

By Sean Dietrich Birmingham, Alabama—the 1970’s. The hairstyles are ridiculous. Fashions are even worse. It’s Christmastime in the Magic City. Early evening. A young couple arrives in town to visit family. They are working-class poor. He is overworked and underpaid. She is too. Still, things are looking up. Even though it’s hard...

By Rev. J. Pete Hyde After Dad retired in 1970 to Rogers, Arkansas, our family began attending Central United Methodist Church in Rogers after many years of being unchurched. Central was and still is an old downtown church that is now on the Historic Register. Stained glass windows surround the curved...

By Sean Dietrich To the man whose son has cancer. Who sat with me in the public park while we watched his boy swing on monkey bars. The man who said: “My son’s cancer turned out to be the best thing that ever happened to us. Made me see how good...

By Rev. J. Pete Hyde Just a mile or two east of the small, (population 200) rural town situated in the vast, open, windy, “big sky” plains of western Oklahoma is the Lochman ranch. It is a modest spread in terms of size, but has feature not found on many of the larger...

By Sean Dietrich Some fool called her, “trash.” And that’s when she made up her mind. She wanted to better herself, and her family. So, that’s what she did. “That GED test,” she said, while she checked my blood pressure. “That ain’t no joke, now. It’s tough.” Her accent is...

By Rick Moore Although the dress code for churches on the Emerald Coast is more casual than most places in the country, I’ve never walked into church and seen someone in their pajamas. Yet, that is actually how some people view church services; in their pajamas. Watching a church service...