Friends: This begins my 21^st year – now 1,042 straight weeks and counting – of offering weekly thoughts and observations about the Bible, theology, and my own late-starting Christian journey. A suggestion was made about six months in that I stop writing it. 

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Spirituality Column #1042

November 3, 2026

Common Christianity / Uncommon Commentary

… ’the Heck? Twenty Years?

By Bob Walters

“You need to persevere so that when you have done the will of God, you will receive what he has promised.” Hebrews 10:8 NIV

In an especially rough patch of my life a few months after I started writing this weekly column 20 years ago – at that time for the newly formed Current in Carmel newspaper – a close, wise, Christian friend suggested I stop writing it.

Another close, wise, Christian friend, insisted I continue. That was Russ Blowers.

I was meeting with both of them in a conference room at my church (E91 Christian Church in Indy) as the acute pressures of a divorce, finances, and career were noticeably affecting my demeanor. Not dangerously or clinically, these guys just knew I needed the serious, prayerful counsel of Christian men. I’m forever grateful for that.

In that season, and in the preceding months, I was in virtually daily contact with both of them. Both were great encouragers, and both were hyper-aware of my overall situation. They knew me well, and this sit-down was a much-needed, timely, mediation.

We were deep into the session when the first friend suggested taking some things off my plate, starting with the column. It was a pressure perhaps I didn’t need and I was paid very little (I had actually pitched the column idea to the newspaper and started off doing it for free). Also, I had the sense he didn’t trust my Christian judgment.

Point taken. I was still fairly new to the faith with no formal training in ministry or theology. That’s where Russ jumped in immediately and said I should continue writing.

Russ and I were active email pen pals pretty much from when I first came to faith in September 2001 until his death November 10, 2007. Most people knew Russ as a great preacher, pastor, story teller, and friend. One of our connections was that we both had undergraduate journalism degrees. His 50-plus years in ministry and my relative gee-whiz newness and enthusiasm for Christ formed a bond.  What made it special, I think, was my time in the media and public relations. I followed the career path he had trained for, and he was completing the path to which I was now dedicated: i.e., Christ.

Additionally, Russ knew most of the “old media” in town, as did I. He was the Channel 8 on-air preacher in the 1950s and 60s, and chaired Indy’s 1980 Billy Graham Crusade. I had plenty of questions about Jesus and the Bible Russ gladly answered, and he enjoyed our repartee on sports and media. We wrote back and forth constantly.

When the chance to write and publish a weekly, widely distributed Christian essay landed in my lap in late 2006, Russ championed the idea. As a safety net, I made him promise to read the columns before I sent them to the newspaper. He rarely corrected anything, usually commenting with that familiar “gee-whiz” tone of his own – his congregation loved that about him – cheering on my openness at sharing my faith.

Plus, two years earlier Russ and I arranged to have Dr. George Bebawi – an internationally known Bible scholar, church historian, and Cambridge divinity lecturer – begin teaching a Wednesday night Bible and Christian theology class at E91. I’ve written about George often, but my point here is that George’s expertise, and the fact that I edited and kept all his class notes, provided endless column material. Still does.

Russ became ill in the late summer of 2007. Hence, I lost my editor and was writing without a net until I met wife-to-be Pam at Russ’s funeral. An English teacher and preacher’s kid, she was a trusted friend immediately. Pam took Russ’s place as my sounding board and editor, and has cheered on this column ever since.

“What God has promised…” is the joy of writing this, now 20 years and counting.

Walters (rlwcom@aol.com) would burst if he didn’t have this weekly outlet. He has written often about Russ and George (easy to find them in the CommonChristianity.blogspot.com search box), and intentionally withheld the name of the friend who suggested he cease writing the column. Here are posts about how the column began (LINK 1001) and a series on meeting and marrying Pam (LINK 763, 764, 765).

By the way, the first five years of Bob’s columns, #1 November 2006 to #260 thru October 2011, are online at BelieverBob.blogspot.com. Columns from November 2011 (#261) through today are at CommonChristianity.blogspot.com. The two Common Christianity / Uncommon Commentary books Walters published (2011, 2017) can be found online at Bob's Books at Lulu (also Amazon, etc.)