Watching Japanese Baseball

By Dennis E. Powell | Apr 29, 2026 at 11:26 PM

Over the last few years, as frequent readers here know, I’ve taken interest in the lovely, even cute, Japanese culture.

This Isn’t The Way

By Timothy R. Butler | Apr 26, 2026 at 12:19 AM

Tonight, I can’t stop thinking, this isn’t the way. A third assassination attempt against President Trump was all too narrowly thwarted mere months after the actual assassination of another national political figure. We need to treat the illness these evil acts are the symptoms of.

Waspatollah!

By Dennis E. Powell | Apr 22, 2026 at 9:56 PM

It needed to be done, but the adults hadn’t done it, so I thought I would. The result was a useful lesson. One that was painful both to me, who was guilty, and to many others, who weren’t. I never would have supposed that many years later it would become the kind of mistake the president of the United States would repeat on a much larger scale.

In Praise of Mandy Patinkin: Pop Culture As Spiritual Practice

By Jason Kettinger | Apr 18, 2026 at 9:44 PM

I can remember Mandy Patinkin in various movies of the week on broadcast TV when I was small. Let me say that I definitely grew up with his work, and if it could be said that I love him in a real way, I do.

A Perfect Break from the World

By Dennis E. Powell | Apr 15, 2026 at 11:46 PM

If the art form known as anime received the attention and credit it deserves, you would already have heard of a series called “The Holy Grail of Eris,” or in romaji Japanese, Erisu no Seihai.

I watched it Tuesday night, all 12 25-minute episodes. It is a masterpiece.

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This Week at Little Hills - Jeremiah (April 28, 2026)

Pastor Tim turns to Jeremiah to briefly think about what prophets were frequently called to do: warn us. Jeremiah had reason for fear, but God assured him and sent him to call us to safety.

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Transcript

This transcript has been AI generated and may contain errors.

Hello friends, welcome to This Week at Little Hills. You heard this week more than likely not one that we like to hear, one that’s important for us. Why does a siren go off and we say, oh no, not a siren? Well, because it means bad things. But we’re thankful for those sirens because they warn us that bad things are coming. They’re there for our safety.

To God’s prophets, they came in bad news. People said, oh no, not another one of those messages. But God sent them for the people’s good and for our continued good. So it was when God commissioned Jeremiah in chapter 1, verse 8, he said, do not be afraid of them, for I am with you to deliver you. He intended safety for Jeremiah, but why was he sending him then to people who would oppose him? Well, because he was sending him to deliver them as well. God wasn’t sending to destroy the prophet or the people the prophet was speaking to, but rather to offer them hope.

When we read God’s word and we think, I don’t want to hear this. It’s not what I want to hear. It’s not what I want to do. What we need to hear is just like those sirens and say, well, you know, maybe I should go ahead and get inside now, get to shelter now, because the storm is coming. The storm here is coming. Clearly, I’m going to need to go here in a moment. But are we ready to hear the storms of life as they’re coming? That’s God’s call for us. Hear the warnings of his word. Be willing to tell us to take shelter and then take that shelter. I hope that’s an encouragement to you this week. I’m going to go ahead and get in shelter right now, and I’ll see you again very soon.