On Being 91 Years Of Age

Today I become 91 Years of Age. This is one personal story that I am willing to share. Son of Mathilda and Rudolph Krueger I was born at home near Lamberton, Minnesota on a farm on Dutch Charlies Creek. I went to District 16 one room school with 11 students.

Due to foresight of parents. we moved to Redwood Falls with its good School System and then went to Hamline University in St Paul, Minnesota. Then went to Graduate School at Drew University at Madison. New Jersey. Joan and I were married and our children are Martha, Margaret, Janet and Elizabeth.

A decision to be a United Methodist local church pastor led to being at a number of congregations. At a number of appointments there were two churches and up to three worship services a Sunday.  Some weeks there were services during the weeks as well and what seemed like unending committee meetings.

At one point I was appointed to be a regional leader called a District Superintendent.

My approach was personal in that I did not directly tell people what to believe. Rather, I raised questions about daily life issues and proposed possible spiritual guidelines for individual thought and personal decision making. 

Counseling people was part of the work. When death came it was up to me to relate with the berieved and  
preside at funerals. When a woman and man decided to be married I counseled with them and officiated at the wedding.
Counseling also was with people whose lives were falling apart or who were dealing with alcohol or unfaithfulness or mental illness.

As for the theology that was my foundation, here it is: Blessed be the Name and Person of Jesus Christ, Creator God who came and enables us to Deal with Evil and raises us to New Life in the Spirit

Learning How to Read Slow

Remember speed reading. It treated reading as a contest. A person could read books, magazines, comic books, faster. Except for really interesting articles or pictures.

Then letters became another thing. Love letters were quite another matter unto themselves. There every word counted.  Sometimes emotion was the whole story. You could read between the lines and you had been waiting impatiently for that precious letter. 

There were other times when a "Dear John" letter came. You were afraid and now here it is.  Go ahead. Read it. And cry.

Times have changed.  A text message usually does not include details or emotion. Just the Facts please. This treats your information as a business exchange  Or maybe a Tweet ?? That is a way some folks save time and avoid human interaction.

Once upon a time I wrote many letters. Then came a stroke and writing became scribbling so a computer made it possibly to be legible. Now it became necessary to once again learn to make sense. My mental acuity is right there in public.

When you receive a personal letter from an old friend, take time to read it slow. I suggest reading it aloud.

I am blessed with children who write well. Their letters are informative and well crafted.

 

Befriending Norovirus

Certain viruses are the well advertised enemies that can turn into global pandemics and kill many people. So why befriend them?

Anxiety can lead people to depression and despair. In such a frame of mind we become more vulnerable to one kind or another of virus. We can weaken ourselves by imagining a dire personal result.

My proposal is to learn all that we can about the particular virus that has arrived on our doorstep. 

Norovirus has come to this community. It spreads easily and shows itself by causing vomiting and diarrhea. Here are beginning steps for indiviuals.

     1. Washing hands frequently is basic.
     2. Avoiding groups decreases vulnerability.

Knowing these facts through research is an example of befriending norovirus.  Only by learning can we prevent ourselves from being agents of norovirus

A more serious virus from China is now arriving in our country and is being described as a possible global pandemic.  We look to National Health authorities if the Coronavirus begin to spread.

For now we all can  WASH HANDS.
We can learn all we can about NOROVIRUS.
We can begin to learn about CORONAVIRUS.



Written by Delton