Friends: It is a blessing to share our joy with others, and for others to share their joy with us. Have a great week. Bob

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Spirituality Column #1002

January 27, 2026

Common Christianity / Uncommon Commentary

Sharing the Joy

By Bob Walters

“… I have learned to be content whatever the circumstances.” – Paul, Philippians 4:11

Though it was never part of my plan, especially not my retirement plan, I somehow blessedly wound up now in my later years teaching high school history and civics at Mission Christian Academy in Fishers, Indiana.

I mention it often; MCA is a private K-12 school of 500 students this year heading north of 600 students next term in just its seventh year of existence.  It was born out of the Covid shutdown and opened in the fall of 2020 with 38 students. In its second year, with 150-ish students, my wife Pam became the high school English teacher. Two years later I came aboard teaching high school history, government, and economics.

We start the econ term in January discussing Christian perspectives of unlimited human wants discerning and deriving contentment amid choices of limited resources.

I.e., we want it all, but there’s only so much to get. Supply, demand, pricing, value, propensities, basic business structures, an overview of financial markets, and a mix of personal finance exercises (credit cards, insurance, banks, taxes, etc.) come later. I happily defer in-depth discussion of monetary policy and the Federal Reserve Bank for their college professors; there’s a reason econ is called “The Dismal Science.”

MCA’s is not a watery Sunday school treatment of a serious topic, but our econ text book integrates biblical principles and scripture.  We spend a couple of early econ classes deeply discussing the nuances of joy vs. happiness vs. contentment. I wrote a column about that two years ago (Link: #898 Happy for Now), but a story popped up this week having to do with IU’s football championship that showed me I missed something.

Heisman Trophy winning Indiana quarterback Fernando Mendoza, a member of the St. Paul Catholic parish on the IU campus, the day before Christmas phoned Father Patrick Hyde and asked if he could “stop by with the trophy.” Hyde’s story about that appeared in a First Things post January 19, (Link: The Joy of Being a Hoosiers Fan).

It’s a fun story to read, and Hyde had this brilliant line: “Joy, from a Christian perspective, is a gift to be shared.” I had missed that in our econ discussions.  We can be content in our circumstances and happy with a situation, but joy is special because it is something of God that we can truly share. Be happy, yes.  Be content, yes.

But share your joy. In all circumstances share this Godly gift, and be content.

As an aside, the “page ribbon” in my Bible stays tucked in Philippians 4. Mainly that is because back in early 2003 when my mother Ruth, then living seven hours north in Alpena, Michigan, was in the final months of her life – and we knew it – I began one of my regular drives from Carmel up I-69 by calling friend and minister Russ Blowers.

I was in borderline tears; Russ knew my situation and suggested we pray his wife Marian’s favorite Bible passage, Philippians 4:4-9. I listened as he quoted, “Rejoice in the Lord always” through “whatever is true, noble, right, pure, lovely, admirable, or praiseworthy” to “think about such things” … “And the God of peace will be with you.”

Mom died that March. Marian, in memory care, died 18 months later. Because of Mom, and Russ’s tender prayer and his unwavering love for Marian until the end, I leave my Bible’s page ribbon in that spot as a fond reminder. Also, it is a quick “jumping in” point when finding the shorter books Paul wrote. Everything from Galatians to Philemon is within a few page flips, and that wonderful prayer is always right there waiting for me.

Sorry to wander a bit, but be joyful in the Lord, and content in His love. Always.

Walters (rlwcom@aol.com) is happy, and wrote about joining MCA HERE.

Friends: It all started with a phone call from a sports writing buddy back in 2006. 

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Labels: column history, Current in Carmel, George Bebawi, My Walk, Psalms 107:2, Russ Blowers, wife Pam

Spirituality Column #1001

January 20, 2026

Common Christianity / Uncommon Commentary

Where to Begin …   

By Bob Walters

“Let the redeemed of the Lord tell their story …” – Psalms 107:2

Steve Greenberg called me in the summer of 2006, inquiring whether I’d be interested in being the managing editor of a new weekly newspaper he and a friend were starting. The paper was – and with proliferation still is – Current in Carmel.

Steve was a longtime journalism friend and colleague; he was the sports editor at the Indianapolis Star in the 1990s while I was the public relations director at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway. In the 1980s I had been a sportswriter at the Star, knew Steve from being elsewhere in the Indiana sports media and, when we were independents in the late 1990s and early 2000s, worked on various publishing and PR projects together.

Though grateful, I turned down Steve’s Current editorial offer since at the time I had a good job in corporate communications and joked with him that I didn’t want to be unemployed in a year when the Current newspaper failed because newspapers were dying off, not starting up.

But I did offer to provide – free of charge – content for Current in Carmel, a weekly religion column which initially was called “In Spirit.” Steve hadn’t thought of a Christian-focused weekly feature, but I pitched the notion that Carmel is exactly the kind of community that goes to church: affluent, educated, and family oriented.  Six of the largest protestant churches in Indiana were located either in or adjacent to Carmel, along with being central to three huge Catholic parishes.

Steve, though not religious himself, said okay. Current was an otherwise completely secular publication, so my musings about Christianity, culture, and my own still-new Christian walk amounted to a jarring, contextual non-sequitur. Steve found my content “edgy” – a compliment; I wrote like a sportswriter, not a pastor, and the editors never touched it; the column ran as written. I also wrote with the gee-whiz wonder of nascent, intense faith, constant encouragement from pastor Russ Blowers, and fresh perspectives from Bible scholar and teacher George Bebawi.

I was baptized in November 2001 and had struck up a friendship with Russ that over time included many emails back and forth. Then – a God thing – I met George at a picnic gathering of old high school friends in May of 2002. With Russ’s cheerleading, I submitted a one-year-after-9/11 column titled “Faith and Doubt at Ground Zero” to the Star, which it printed on its editorial page September 11, 2002. After that Russ constantly urged me to establish a writing ministry.

George, about whom I have written dozens if not hundreds of times in the weekly column, also became an email pal while he was still on the divinity faculty at Cambridge University, England. He retired in spring 2004 and moved to Carmel where he married wife May, whom I had met through those same high-school friends some 20 years earlier.  Russ and I convinced George to teach a weekly Bible and doctrine class at our East 91^st Street Christian Church in Indianapolis. From its beginning in September 2004 until 2018 I coordinated the class, formatting George’s teaching materials and taking copious notes of my own. I have them all and will never run out of material.

When Current in Carmel went live with the column November 7, 2006 – only its third edition – In Spirit elicited an avalanche of “you can’t run that religious stuff in a public newspaper” reaction, which created buzz that Steve and his publishing partner loved. They would forward complaint emails to me, to which I would respond with kind conviction, never bitterness or condescension. 

Voila! I had my writing ministry.

Russ was my editor that first year, always tickled at my boldness and forthright Christian / Bible witness, cheering me on and rarely citing corrections.  Russ died in November 2007, and I met my wife Pam at his funeral.  She has been my encouraging and gentle editor ever since.

We published my first 260 columns (five years) in late 2011 as a book, Common Christianity / Uncommon Commentary, followed by Volume II in mid-2017. Those were fun, bucket list check-offs (“publish a book”), but have no plans for more.  Current succeeded wildly and quickly expanded to editions for Noblesville, Westfield, Fishers, Zionsville, and Geist, and ran the column through 2015.

When Current canceled In Spirit, Pam and I figured, “Why stop?” We have a blog, around six hundred on our free, weekly email list (happy to add more, just ask), and post on social media.

So now nearly 20 years on we are 1,000 columns in – make that 1,001; 1,001 weeks in a row without a miss. You never know what the Holy Spirit is going to come up with, but I plan to keep paying close attention.

Walters’ (rlwcom@aol.com) books are available Here, the blog is Here, and the story about meeting Pam is in columns 763, 764, and 765 in the blog. Greenberg is a good guy but not religious. Walters always included his own email address in the column for comment, and incidentally, was laid off from that corporate communications job a year after telling Steve the newspaper wouldn’t work.  One thousand columns are a lot but Walters isn’t getting cocky; minister Dave Faust who baptized Walters at E91 in 2001 has been writing weekly pastoral and Bible columns for various magazines for more than 30 years. He’s somewhere around 1,600. BTW, while trying to come up with a title for the first book, good friend Stan Naraine dubbed the weekly efforts “common Christianity” and added something about uncommon commentary, or maybe Walters did.  Anyway, it stuck.

Friends: Well, here it is, Common Christianity column #1000. I adjusted the topic due to current “blossoming” Hoosier events combined with the permanence of faith. Blessings, Bob

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Spirituality Column #1000

January 13, 2026

Common Christianity / Uncommon Commentary

Faithful Communion

By Bob Walters

“Do this in remembrance of me.” – Luke 22:19, 1 Corinthians 11:24-25

(Previously – noting this would be column #1000 – I expressed intent to share some history of this weekly column and blog going back to November 2006. Well, maybe next week for #1001. Instead, here is the communion meditation I delivered Sunday at E91.)    

Let me begin by confessing that my Purdue heart, graciously and warmly, is basking in the reflected glow of Indiana University’s blossoming football success. A long-wandering nation is approaching the Promised Land. Hoo, Hoo, Hoo, Hoosiers.

As our long departed friend and pastor Russ Blowers used to insist: “God loves to see his kids play.”  Christianity is a team sport, a glorious team sport, where every day is Game Day (I promise, that’s the end of the sports metaphors).  But every day reveals our faith, which brings us to what I really want to talk about: faith.

Our Sunday worship and communion rightly express our shared joy of love and testimony and fellowship; of shared faith, hope, and love. Going it alone as a Christian defies the core identity of God, of the Holy Trinity, which is a society, community, and relationship, identified as love.

The Trinity is the mathematical mystery of one equaling three and vice versa, but love – which can’t exist alone – itself is a mystery. And if the 1-2-3 of the Trinity doesn’t add up for you, then let 1 times 1 times 1 – still 1 - multiply our fellowship and your faith.

Faith, you know, isn’t guess-work.  Faith is a vast understanding of the truth.

Faith isn’t measured against absence of doubt; faith is recognizing the brightness of the light of God, Jesus, and the Holy Spirit. It is perfectly OK to have human doubt even in the bright light of Jesus.  But don’t confuse “doubt” with “lack of faith.”

There are divine mysteries we do not understand, and earthly problems we cannot solve. I doubt myself all the time; I’m just thankful I don’t have to doubt Jesus. I am fallible; Jesus is not.

Our well-oiled faith pleases God and gives us peace, curiosity, and motivation. It inspires and fills us with truth and love, with grace and peace, with courage and strength, and with wisdom and compassion.

Those are all good things to pray for and to ask God to share with us. We pursue and initiate faithful good works as an outworking of the faith that burns inwardly in our hearts, minds, and souls.

That faith is our communion with God, each other, and Christians everywhere.

Let us contemplate quietly – for a few moments – this faithful communion of the body and blood of our Lord, as the life which fills us now.  Let it remind us of Christ’s magnificent and faithful sacrifice on the cross that restores us to forgiven and eternal relationship with our Creator.

(When communion had been shared, we closed in prayer, including …)

“We pray for this congregation, for our nation, for the witness of Christian faith throughout the world ... and maybe especially in Miami next Monday.”  Amen.

Walters (rlwcom@aol.com) is aware many Purdue faithful do not share his magnanimity toward our friends in Bloomington. As a young sportswriter in Kokomo, Ind., Walters covered Purdue, IU, and Notre Dame football and basketball, including IU’s 1981 NCAA basketball championship in Philadelphia (the day Reagan was shot). Walters, a 1976 graduate of Franklin College, was Purdue’s Assistant SID 1981-1984.

Friends: Faith is more about what we think than what we do, and our hope aligns with our faith.  Here is a brief inventory. Happy New Year, and have a great week.

Blessings! Bob

Labels: 1 Peter 3:15, Matthew 11:30, my faith, testimony

Spirituality column #999

January 6, 2026

Common Christianity / Uncommon Commentary

Some of the Reasons

By Bob Walters

“Always be prepared to give an answer to everyone who asks you to give the reason for the hope that you have.” – 1 Peter 3:15

We are winding toward my one thousandth weekly Common Christianity column – perhaps you noticed this is #999 – and next week we’ll offer some background of how the column got started back in 2006 and what has kept it going for almost 20 years.

Today, although you didn’t ask, I’ll address some reasons for the hope I have and consider some abiding definitions and understanding of my faith in Christ.

Here goes. My testimony is not about my successes or failures, my virtues or sins, my discernment or foolishness, or my joys or sorrows. I’ve experienced all sides.

My testimony is about light, reality, truth, love, trust, and faith.

Light: The lights came on when I realized, at age 47, that Jesus was and is real.

Reality: God, Jesus, and the Spirit are not only real; the Holy Trinity issues forth a purpose of love, relationship, and glory in God’s mind and Creation. That’s reality.

Truth: I’ll never claim to know all truth, but the darkness of doubt left when I realized truth – objective, real, divine, unshakeable truth – exists in Christ. Truth isn’t limited by knowing facts or knowing true from false. It is knowing truth exists. I’m free to doubt myself, but always with the security that my doubt does not affect God’s truth.

Love: We think love is a feeling; love actually is the being and righteousness of God. It is the uncoerced relationship, community, and society of the Holy Trinity, shared with Creation generally and specifically with humanity through Jesus Christ. Love is a mystery and a willful commitment. God is love, and is included as His image in our lives.

Trust: Jesus isn’t lying to us. He’ll do what He promises and has done what He said He would do.  Trust in Jesus is not about me understanding my circumstances or Him affecting my outcomes. It is about His ultimate purpose; i.e., us in God’s Kingdom.

Faith: Superior to all the senses, faith is buoyed, proven, assured, grounded, anchored … and unprovable with words. It is the most private of our motivations, known only to us and truly to God. In fact, God likely knows our faith – or lack of it – better than we do. Faith is the foundation of human joy built with hope and love; faith is trust in things unseen. It is in our faith that we can truly see; faith opens the eyes of hearts.

We are thankful for forgiveness and salvation, but must always remember the ultimate goal is restored eternal relationship with God, resting in His heavenly Kingdom after toiling on this monstrously unpredictable yet magnificently beautiful Earth.

Our obedience is for our sake.  Nothing we do affects God’s glory, alters His truth, or dampens His righteousness. In Matthew 11:30 Jesus says His yoke is easy and his burden – what he demands – is light. The Ten Commandments tell us how to honor God, but really tell us how to live at peace and with love for each other. We benefit.

Christianity is unique because it is not a manmade religion; it is about the person of God – Jesus – living on earth as a human and telling us the greatest story, the most profound truth, and the best news we could ever imagine. Yet, we couldn’t believe it.

In fact, despite all the Old Testament prophesies of God’s plan, the Son’s arrival, and man’s salvation in Christ, the Gospels tell us nobody understood Jesus’s mission to restore God’s Creation back to God Himself. Jesus hung on the cross, died, and was resurrected with thousands of witnesses. Through scripture and time, we understand.

Those are some of the reasons for the hope I have.  What are yours?

Walters (rlwcom@aol.com) never planned to write 1,000 columns, nor has plans to quit.