Milestones Ministry

08/03/2024

12/21/2023

All I want for Christmas is to reach my fundraising goal for Binc.

Why?
Because, as Program Manager for Binc, I can tell you the need for emergency financial assistance this year has already exceed last year by DOUBLE Digits.

Because this year, as we have for 27 years: every qualified request for help was met. That's amazing for a foundation that is 100% donor funded.

If you know me you know that I am always looking ahead, seeking out Plan B. And that lead to this Christmas Wish.

The average grant (a grant, NOT a loan!) is just over $2000. I'd love to cover one of those grants myself, but that's out of reach for me.

Together, though? Together we can make that happen. And that would be just the very best present ever.

This link will let you make any-sized donation. You can even make it to honor someone (your boss? teacher? child? parent?) and if you share their email address a message that YOU create will be sent to them. And of course you will also get a receipt for tax purposes.

Please consider the impact every donation will make in the life of
a bookseller of comic shop employee that gets the news 'It's cancer.' and their world changes in an instant.

Or the bookseller that finishes restocking the calendars and bestsellers, then comes home to the anguished face of a spouse that tells them they lost their job on Christmas weekend.

Or the comic shop employee that finds an electricity shutoff notice among the Christmas cards tonight.

I get calls like this everyday. I will get calls like this next year, too, and although my heart breaks as we talk: I am glad that Binc is here to help.

I'd love you to know how it feels to be part of that help. If you can- please donate today. If that isn't possible: could you share this post and help spread the word?

Thank you all- and here's to 2024 for the Win!

All I want for Christmas is to reach my fundraising goal for Binc. Donate to honor someone & send them a message, too!

12/20/2023

I'm off this Friday.
Does anyone in the Ann Arbor area need a ride to get their Covid19 booster this year?
Let me know!

12/20/2023

I had thoughts.
No paywall on my Medium content when you use this link.

Thoughts from a born-Catholic

10/08/2023

Milestones and Ministry are everywhere.
Thanks TC

The church seemed so much bigger then. But I was small. Still am if you look at the big picture.

I told Sammy that pulling the rope connected to the bronze bell in the steeple would lift me off the ground once inertia took over. I needed to be held up by my dad to reach the rope; he was the pastor. It was his first church assignment.

We still rang real bronze bells in the sixties. None of that annoying pre-recorded bell ringing.

I recalled an Easter Sunday when I was given the honor of pulling the rope just after the sunrise service, prior to a church lady-cooked breakfast in the basement.

My sisters had their turns as bell ringers, too. It was never done without cause, but only because we all had to be held up to reach the rope. You can imagine our desire to ring it at the wrong time.

Preacher's kids aren't any different than other kids; that's why the rope was short. At least, that's what I surmised.

I pointed toward a trickling brook where I caught my first trout on my sixth birthday. Byron Chute took me to the stream with my first Zebco fishing rod. It was pouring rain.

"That fish was huge, well over thirteen inches long. We lived right in that house across the street," I told Sammy.

I didn't refer to the house across the street as the parsonage. Most people don't even know what that means nowadays. I lived in a few of them.

The house seemed big back then. Of course, I was small. Still am in the scheme of things.

"Geez, that's a good brook trout from a tiny stream," Sammy said.

"We caught a lot of fish there," I said.

To this day, I'd rather catch a small brook trout— cold to the hand like a dark, wriggling icicle, than any other fish.

My road trips through Maine always have a purpose. Typically, that purpose takes a second seat to swinging by all the places I got to live. My passenger had no problem with it, but most people just want to get to where they are going. That's why many of my drives are spent alone. I avoid agendas and plans. I know; it shows.

I moved seventeen times before I was eighteen. Some people think that was a detriment to my coming of age. Sammy did; he said so much in a friendly exchange.

I explained how I learned to make friends and people laugh. Making people laugh instantly relieved all that pressure when you felt like you wouldn't fit in. It worked out fine. Just fine.

As we pulled away, I saw the old house where the crazy man lived. He would scream at our family, threatening to sick his dog, Tiger, on us if we came over to his property. He used a lot of words that I never heard across the street.

Dad left one day. He wanted to see if he could talk to the man, Alan was his name.

Dad walked through the woods to get there, he didn't enter from the street. I figured maybe it was to make him stop screaming at us when we were outside, but I was scared. To me, that man was akin to a monster. And I was terrified of Tiger— a big, yellow German Shepherd mix. None of the fear was Tiger's fault, of course.

Dad came back unscathed. He explained that the man wouldn't yell at us anymore. A few weeks later, Dad took me to see Alan and Tiger.

I was confused about why we were visiting. It was the first time I'd seen the man whose voice terrified me. He wore the standard issued costume of so many other men I've met who acted similarly. I've been to a lot of houses like that since then.

I couldn't believe that the man I met was the same fellow who had been so mean and nasty. I couldn't comprehend all of it, not then. We always waved at Alan after that, and he waved back. Tiger seemed to bark less when he wasn't screaming.

That year, my dad gave him some rides to get medicine, maybe to a doctor. I can't be sure. I just know that Alan changed. So did Tiger. Alan finally got his car running, doing his own errands.

I remember sleeping better after that.

My dad was a cop before he was a pastor; I suspect that made pastoring easier and scary people less scary.

I don't believe Alan ever came across to the church, but that didn't make any difference to my dad. That sign over the door was for everyone, even if they never had a chance to ring the bell.

Have a great Sunday.

From the Jagged Edge of America, I remain,

TC

07/04/2023

This realization was certainly a Milestone Moment!

03/19/2023

If you ever wondered how Milestones Ministry came about, wonder no more!

A Strange Path to Ministering

03/19/2023

New business cards ordered!

02/19/2023

One of the ongoi g trends is a small wedding.
Big or small- Milestone is for all!

12/28/2022

This is also a Milestone along the journey

05/11/2022

A Milestone can be the day you look at something in a new way.

“It's not our job to toughen our children up to face a cruel and heartless world. It's our job to raise children who will make the world a little less cruel and heartless.”
L.R. Knost - Two Thousand Kisses a Day: Gentle Parenting Through the Ages and Stages.

Hippolyte Daeye - Mother and Child, 1915-16.

03/25/2022

Learning this can be a Milestone.

03/08/2022

Treat yourself and dial.
I chose option two.

Omg 🥺🥺🥺

02/09/2022

Here's a unique way to celebrate a milestone!

02/01/2022

Today is an unofficial holiday: National Get Up Day.
I had no idea that it was a thing, but it is a reassuring reminder that we can always decide to start over.

Maybe this is news to you, too?

This can be your Milestone, then- a day to start over.

Ready to celebrate National Get Up Day? Here are some motivational ideas to help you bounce back from life's most challenging times.

01/11/2022

https://youtu.be/KgZ4ZTTfKO8
I was smiling, laughing, and crying all at the same time.
Enjoy this wonderful wedding toast!

My surprise for my wife Vanessa on our wedding day. All of Vanessa's close friends and family rehearsed for a month in secret, leading up to the reception. W...

12/21/2021

May this minister to those that need the message.

“We can easily forgive a child who is afraid of the dark; the real tragedy of life is when [adults] are afraid of the light.” – Plato

Many people send out Christmas cards this time of year. These cards typically feature pictures of smiling kids, happy couples, cute dogs, new homes. Many cards include images of beautiful Christmas trees, Santa leaving gifts, Snoopy driving sleighs, or nativity scenes.

But several years ago, it was a seemingly bland card, with a seemingly odd message, that most deeply moved me. On a plain blue card weren’t pictures, images, families or snowflakes, but four words:

“Do Not Be Afraid.”

Seemed like a strange message for the holiday season. Why lead with a message of fear around the holidays? Why not send pictures of puppy dogs and snow flakes and Santa and kids looking just perfect? Kind of a dark message, right?!

Then I remembered the first words Mary heard from the angel:

Do Not Be Afraid.

And the first words heard by Joseph in a dream.

Do Not Be Afraid.

And the first words a bunch of shepherds heard while tending to their flocks.

Do Not Be Afraid.

Then I thought of the woman who had sent this card. She was recently widowed, struggling with intense grief, dealing with loneliness, facing uncertainty. And I understood the grand simplicity and profound truth of her card.

My friends, we all carry so many concerns into this Christmas week.

Some wrestle with the agony of a lost loved one and their first Christmas with an empty chair around the table. Others endure the weight of too many pulls on their time, too many places to be, too many things to get done. Some feel trapped in an unhealthy relationship; some ache to be in a relationship.

We all carry insecurities and anxieties into this week and into the final days of 2021. And then we are reminded of a fundamental truth too frequently overlooked this time of year.

Do not be afraid.

It was a message delivered 2,000 years ago that transformed the lives of those who heard and heeded them.

Perhaps there’s value in hearing and heeding them in our lives today.

This is your day.

Do not be afraid.

And Live Inspired.

04/15/2021

Sometimes... maybe even the best times... you need to make your own milestones.
https://twitter.com/RexChapman/status/1382374719358431233?s=20

03/24/2021

My Milestone today is remembering my Dad telling me about true love.

Don't Wait for the Prince