By JIM NICHOLS When you are a little boy, there is hardly anything more impressive than a big boy. They look like a little boy, only they are strong and fast. They can be idolized as good athletes or even role models; they can also be terrifying. Once upon a time a little boy went on an errand with his

By JIM NICHOLS He was a contract worker for a company that was installing new water meters throughout the city. Working in our front yard on a near 100-degree day, he used an assortment of wrenches, other tools, and impressive physical strength to remove our current meter from under the ground and replace it with a newer electronic one. He

By JIM NICHOLS I am a baseball fan. I liked playing it when I was young and have followed any major league team close to where I lived and could get on the radio. That would include the Kansas City Athletics, St. Louis Cardinals, Kansas City Royals, Detroit Tigers, Atlanta Braves, and now the Texas Rangers. There are certain lyrical

By JIM NICHOLS You have probably had this same experience in one form or another. That is, we realize that we are in familiar territory, but something seems oddly and disturbingly different. We recognize most of the pieces, but they are put in different positions and result in some new or different meaning. I was challenging myself by living a

By JIM NICHOLS It was a heavily traveled road, but a dangerous journey. You certainly did not want to walk it alone. It was not called the “way of blood” for nothing. It was a generally downhill trip from Jerusalem to Jericho with lots of twists and turns and rocks and boulders to try to avoid. However, the bandits were

By JIM NICHOLS Do you remember your first elementary school building? I do. I spent the first three-plus years of my education at Francis Willard Elementary in Kansas City. In kindergarten a boy held a crayon in his hand for a long time and it soon got softened and melted enough he could bend it into a curl; I was

By JIM NICHOLS Whether or not you are a follower of God through Jesus Christ and the Holy Spirit, you have some sort of spiritual stance. Furthermore, that stance did not just fall into you; it was developed over the years through what you have been told, what you have read, and the way you have interpreted what has happened

By JIM NICHOLS The monitor lights blinked with lines and numbers. The patient lay unmoving in the bed while family members quietly entered and exited the hospital room; they spoke softly and seldom. It seems to me that those employed in medical settings have a distinct human advantage over others. This is particularly true in our modern world. Whereas, in