Antony Barone Kolenc speaks with educator and author D.J. Dixon about the challenges to keeping our youth in the faith today.
Journey On
It amazes me that we humans ever understand each other given our robust ability to mess with syntax, translations, and meaning. Some years back, the kids and I visited my dad in Kansas. My youngest, only about five at the time, was very impressed by something my dad shared with […]
Faith Based Schooling
One day I shared with my university professor father the name of a religious text I was using in my homeschool, and my dad snorted in disgust. “Use books with real material, for God’s sake!” The I-couldn’t-shoot-through-it-with-a-laser-gun irony was not lost on me. After all, every choice I made in my homeschooling […]
For Me?
God’s birth comes in many forms… An old woman and her sandwich saved my life. Not that I was starving. I wasn’t. In fact, I hadn’t had an appetite in three days. Moreover, I had no wish to live. She didn’t know that. But, still, she wouldn’t let me die. […]
A Future I Can Count On
The future bewilders me. I never know what’s next. I should be used to that by now. But no. I make a plan and then watch it swirl into oblivion shortly after my first sip of morning coffee. Since I’m off much of social media, I have more time. So, […]
We’re on the Same Island
Though I do believe that John Donne was right, “No man is an island,” since we are all connected to the God who made us, I must also toss in a clarification: suffering can separate us in ways that islands don‘t dare to dream. For the past several months, I’ve […]
Around the Year with the Von Trapp Family
Around the Year with the von Trapp Family by Maria Augusta von Trapp is surprisingly upbeat and joyful, especially when we recall that The Sound of Music ends with the von Trapp troupe fleeing their beloved Austria. The 1965 American musical drama ends by highlighting the danger the family averted by escaping with only what […]
What’s on God’s To-Do List for you?
What surprises does God have on his to-do list for you today? Does he wake you up early enough to enjoy the beautiful sunrise he created? As you get dressed, does he prompt you to pray for a divorced friend or cancer-stricken relative? Perhaps when you get to work and […]
Healing the Father-Wound
I wish my father had read The Healing Power of a Father’s Blessing by Linda Schubert. He parented his three daughters from a distance, following the familiar pattern of how he was raised. Oh, Daddy was in town, working six days a week at the five-and-dime stores he managed in […]
Big-Hearted Families, Inspiring Stories from everyday families
by Patti Armstrong and Theresa Thomas “I joined with (cancer survivor) and mother of nine, Theresa Thomas to write Big Hearted: Inspiring Stories From Everyday Families,” Patti told me. “This collection of 22 stories is a recipe for happiness and love for families of any size. We’ve included some of our […]