By Jim Nichols As a university professor, I have written hundreds of letters of reference. Most of them have been for students applying to a professional school or for a scholarship or job. Occasionally, I have composed a letter for a colleague applying for a promotion or exciting growth opportunity. A recent recommendation request, however, was unique; it was from

By Jim Nichols Consider this as a public service announcement. In many hospitals at this moment a small group of family members has gathered because another member of the family group is ill or injured—perhaps even near death. Here is an abbreviated version of that difficult conversation.  Child #1: This is totally freaking me out. How did he ever get

By Jim Nichols Who plays the role of “priest” in your life? Who plays the role of “prophet” in your life? You may be confused by the questions and want to respond, “No one.” I suggest, however, that each of us has individuals in our life that come in and out and they play important parts in determining who we

By Jim Nichols He unrolled a long section of white paper with heights marked off on it with a black felt pen. The marks were in feet and inches. After taping it in the correct position on the back of a bedroom door, he used snapshots of previous years to add dates such as “1-1-54” and “1-1-55” on smaller pieces

By Jim Nichols My parents subscribed to Reader’s Digest when I was growing up. This small magazine has articles that do what the title says—they digest/summarize written items from a wide variety of sources. For some years there was even a book-sized version for purchase in which famous full books were reduced to more quickly readable sizes. Even as boy,

By Jim Nichols She sensed that her elementary-aged child was reluctant to go to school one morning. Speaking to the child, she said, “I believe that God has a surprise for you today. I want you to keep your eye out for it and tell me about it when I pick you up this afternoon.” Some might suspect that this

By Jim Nichols As an early teenager, it was a short trip either walking or bicycling. Head south on our residential street to Johnson Drive, then west toward the high school. Mrs. Scott, the piano teacher, lived across the street from the school. Through the front door and to the right was her piano room; in retrospect, I think it

By Jim Nichols Something flew out a window of the White House and landed on the ground. I saw the brief video, as did others. It looked like something that had weight to it rather than just being a paper that floated. It was more solid than that. Later in the day a reporter asked the President about it. His

By Jim Nichols There are two sections to this article, with tension in both parts. The first is the tension of writing at all; the second is the tension I have regarding the topic. An author I admire notes that he receives criticism from two opposite directions. On one hand his writings tend to be slanted toward religious, even Christian,