Jan 15, 2025 | Grace Notes, Homepage Feature, Reported in the E-Vision
By Steven Norris I wasn’t always a pastor. Many people forget that when their only experience of me has been in that role. Despite the fact that there are three generations of pastors in my lineage, it was not a foregone conclusion that I would follow their lead. I...
Jan 8, 2025 | Grace Notes, Homepage Feature, Reported in the E-Vision
By Steven Norris Ashley was only nine months old when she came to live with our family. She and her brother, John (not their real names), were our first long-term foster placement. Overnight, they had new routines, new surroundings, new food, new smells, new names and...
Jan 1, 2025 | Grace Notes, Homepage Feature, Reported in the E-Vision
By Steven Norris “Bless you!” I hear it all the time. Typically, it follows one of my daily sneezing fits. Occasionally, it comes from a sweet old lady for whom I’ve been holding the door. Sporadically, it comes in response to some other form of goodwill offered to a...
Dec 23, 2024 | Grace Notes, Homepage Feature, News, Reported in the E-Vision
By Steven Norris Every Christmas, I have a little tradition. I have never told anyone about this, because I do it for my own heart as an act of prayer. After the presents are opened and the dinner guests have gone, I open my computer and read a poem from Howard...
Dec 11, 2024 | Grace Notes, Homepage Feature, Reported in the E-Vision
By Steven Norris Last week, I wrote about the image of God as a refiner’s fire in the writings of Malachi. Following that column, the Spirit led a reader to ask how to “get rid of the dross.” In metalworking, raw ore is smelted — heated beyond the melting...
Dec 4, 2024 | Grace Notes, Homepage Feature, Reported in the E-Vision
By Steven Norris Hotdog was a periodic visitor at our church in North Carolina. I am not talking about the food you grill out, either. “Hotdog” was the moniker of an individual who had visited our church building back when it was a honky-tonk bar. I am not sure...
