Thoughts from Pastor Don Filcek.
Last week I was out at a week long conference called The Journey. It is a program run by Open Hearts Ministry in Kalamazoo, Michigan and it is a counseling training/ group experience that started as help for those who have gone through abuse, and it has been opened up to all who want to…
Nikki (my amazing wife) is away for the week. She had the opportunity to attend The Journey in Muskegon. I had the privilege of attending the week long retreat last year and had a powerful experience so I’m happy that she could go. But of course, if she’s gone for a week, that leaves me…
I’m not an animal lover. I like the idea of a dog, I guess––having a trusty companion who always accepts you, waiting for you at the door when you get home with wagging tail. Car commercials with a man and his best friend packing up the camping gear on a mountain top at sunset looks…
Every season brings a certain amount of joy to me. I enjoy all four and that makes Michigan a great home for me. I talk with many people who complain about winter and I wonder to myself why anyone would live in Michigan that hates the winter. But I also have identified a selfish streak…
A few of the counseling relationships I’m privileged to be a part of here at ReCAST have come about due to the challenges of sin. Typically, a crisis drives these individuals to seek pastoral counsel and part of working with them involves confronting the dysfunctional or devious behavior that caused or helped cause the crisis.…
I like the light. I associate walking in the darkness with stepping on Legos with my bare feet and ramming my shin into the end table. The disciple John writes in 1 John 1 about walking in the darkness and walking in the light. And, in context, walking in the light is not merely doing…
I’m blogging from my iPhone, in the dark, in my Big Agnes Wolf Mountain 6 person tent with sleeping wife and three half snoring kiddos by my side. Our tent is expertly pitched on site 224 in Brimley State Park campground with Lake Superior waves quietly falling to shore 40 yards north of where I…
Have you ever been anonymous in a crowd? Have you had the chance to be the mascot or wear a full costume at a party? There is something that makes us more socially bold when nobody knows our identity. Anonymity is a powerful thing that can be used for good or evil in the human…