Signs & Wonders Blog

Valentine’s Day can be difficult for single people. Despite go ing through two divorces, I’m still desiring to marry again. Previously in this blog, I wrote about a grade school girlfriend I considered my first love . While I went on to have many other girlfriends during my youth, there was one relationship I strongly desired that wasn’t meant to be.  This story begins in late 1980 around the time I landed a job at Skateland in Fargo, North Dakota. One day at the roller rink, I asked a cute redhead to skate with me during “couples only.” Her name was Jodi. I was interested in getting to know her until she informed me of having a steady boyfriend. So I pretty much forgot about Jodi until a few weeks later. On the day after Valentine’s Day 1981, I had that Sunday off but still spent the day at Skateland. During “trios only”, I asked two girls sitting together to skate with me. One of them was Jodi who reminded me of us skating before. Although she was still seeing that ot...

While many Americans today have their minds on the Super Bowl, pop music historians remember this being the anniversary of “The Day the Music Died.” Originating from Don McLean’s classic hit “American Pie”, that phrase summarized a horrific event that happened sixty years ago.  On February 3rd, 1959, a chartered airplane crashed in a frozen field near Mason City, Iowa killing rock stars Buddy Holly, Ritchie Valens, and the Big Bopper. This tragedy has been of particular interest to me since their next concert would have been in Moorhead, Minnesota, the city where I grew up. The concert site was only five blocks from the house I would spend most of my childhood. One of the performers who filled in for the deceased musicians was Robert Velline, who went on to a successful career as Bobby Vee. My late father went to high school with Bobby and shared an art class with him. Vee himself died a couple of years ago due to complications from Alzheimer’s disease.  Technicall...

Jon is the former mayor of Fargo, ND  and an outspoken critic of religion. Dear Jon, I’m a Christian missionary who has read many of your articles published in The Forum and in your blog. My motive for writing this letter is not to stir up a debate but inspire you to think about a few things since you call yourself a “freethinker.” First, let me point out that I once thought of myself as an atheist but was really more of an agnostic. While growing up in the Fargo-Moorhead area, my parents made me attend a traditional Lutheran church that gave me wrong perceptions of Christianity. For years, I questioned God’s existence until hearing a motivational speaker point out how the order of our universe is evidence of a Creator. Not long afterward, I prayed to receive Jesus Christ as my Lord and Savior. My life hasn’t been the same since. I read that you once considered yourself a believer but had walked away from the faith. Throughout my 24 years of doing street minis...