Are you having a good day?

Embed from Getty Images   As I put my items on the checkout belt, the supermarket clerk called to the woman behind me and said, “Ma’am, I am sorry, but I am closing after him.”  The woman rolled her eyes, mumbled something under her breath, and shrugged her shoulders as she left. The clerk and …

I’ll be happy when ….

(“Isolation” short video) Unhappiness is a condition that affects many Americans at one point or another, and isolation often a byproduct. The short film entitled “Isolation”  (click image link above), cleverly produced, directed and acted by Joe Narciso as part of a sermon series created by Renaissance Church in Summit, New Jersey served as the …

Christmas Eve Communion

I stood silently staring into the burgundy depths of the cup, praying for oneness. At the first salty-sweet taste every cell in my body danced. Your blood coursed through my veins like holy fire cleansing me, lifting me out of myself to a peace I’d never known … where You come to me, Lord as …

Always look on the bright side of life … A Eulogy

Pictured from right to left, Cathy Barlow Garrison, Nancy Shearer, Jenny Cline, and Bill Hutzel (center) In memory of Cathy Barlow Garrison who passed away Wednesday, November 23, 2016. Cathy seemed to always celebrate life, and so it was fitting that the ceremony in honor of her was called a celebration. But I was sad …

To Be, We Must, We Will — WE ARE!

We are the wheat[1]; we are the wheat-harvest[2]. There will never be an unripe time for us to serve God and all of our humanity, and there was never a more ripe time such as now. If we survey the troubled waters that have engulfed our world, it is all too apparent that we have …

Amazing Grace

Produced, arranged, recorded, and mixed by John D’Elia Musicians: John D’Elia, guitars, bass, percussion Beth D’Elia, vocals Bill Hutzel, solo flute How profound to think that blessings often cause us to divert our attention away from God, and that troubles almost always make us look to God. Such were the troubles of John Newton who …

In Search of the Meaning of Life

How can we find fulfillment and satisfaction in life? How can we achieve something of lasting significance? Philosophers have debated the meaning of life for years, but for many their search for meaning has been elusive. Have you ever asked yourself what the purpose for being here on this earth is? Alexis Zorbas, the character …

Things Aren’t Always As They Appear

No matter how obvious something seems, it just may not be what you think. There is an expression that says “If it looks like a duck, swims like a duck, and quacks like a duck, then it probably is a duck”? And rarely, is what appears to be an obvious truth, not the truth.  This …

Ducklings remind us to never give up

My niece Tracy Hutzel and Jason David posted to YouTube a video of ducklings trying to climb stairs in order to be united with their mother who was just ahead of them at the top of the stairs. To them, the stairs were their Mt. Everest.  The video went viral and has over 3 million …

Happy Holidays or Merry Christmas?

Google’s illustration yesterday kicked off Christmas Eve 2013 with a bucolic scene of a couple in a horse-drawn sleigh making their way through a snowy, winter wonderland.  It was their way of avoiding a “war on Christmas rumpus”.  If you hovered over the image with your mouse, the caption said “Happy Holidays from Google”.  If …