A few days ago, I was able to receive the first dose of the COVID-19 vaccine.

What are you looking forward to in the New Year? The common answer that I hear is for things to return to how they were. As attractive as this may sound, I wonder if this is really what we want. My guess is that we are simply wanting to leave the troubles of 2020 behind.

For five Cache Valley residents, discovering family ties to the original Pilgrims on the Mayflower has been an exciting process — and their research revealed they are descendants of not just one, but several of the settlers as a result of marital relationships begun on the ship.

A couple weeks ago, I indulged my children by buying them breakfast at the McDonald’s drive-thru window. As we pulled away, hot biscuit sandwiches in hand, we noticed a homeless man holding a sign near the stoplight.

Latter-day Saints in Cache Valley are enthusiastically embracing the “Light The World One by One” program by receiving daily text or e-mail prompts and organizing other church activities.

The word “waiting” describes what most of us have felt in 2020. From weddings to travel, it seems that our lives have been put on hold either waiting for something to end or waiting for the other shoe to drop. If that describes you, maybe you are waiting for change in 2021.

I have a complicated relationship with the principle of obedience. I want to do the right thing, but it’s hard for me to invest in the “right thing” if I don’t understand or appreciate the reasons behind it.

As Halloween and Election Day converge upon us, it’s hard to discern which will be the bigger fright night! For some, the election causes greater fear than the fright house down the street. Have you considered why? Why are the elections eliciting fear and anxiety in us?

J. Carlos Rivera is a tribal member of the Sherwood Band of Pomo Indians and also of Mexican descent. When it comes to healing, he follows the guidance of Wallace Black Elk of the Lakota tribe.

There are political signs everywhere these days.

This past weekend I went climbing with a friend at City of Rocks National Reserve in Southern Idaho. The National Park Service promotes it saying, “There’s inspirational scenery, exceptional opportunities for geologic study, and remnants of the Old West awaiting your discovery.” But of cours…

KAMPALA, Uganda (AP) — The COVID-19 pandemic is testing the patience of some religious leaders across Africa who worry they will lose followers, and funding, as restrictions on gatherings continue. Some evangelical Christian leaders in Uganda have launched a campaign with the now-universal p…

JERUSALEM (AP) — Eating apples dipped in honey on Rosh Hashana is a Jewish tradition to symbolize a sweet start of the New Year. But in Israel, bitterness prevails on the eve of the holiday as the country faces a second nationwide lockdown to stem a raging coronavirus outbreak.

A few years back a friend told me about the verse that I had shared with him that brought him to faith. I was surprised by the verse that had impacted him. The primary verse that I had wanted him to understand was 2 Corinthians 5:21, “For God made Christ, who never sinned, to be the offering…

The man stood in front of the Christ the Redeemer statue in a hazmat suit, gloves, respirator and goggles. Two soldiers wearing face masks bowed their heads solemnly. Over a dozen more in full-body gear paused from disinfecting the popular tourist site overlooking Rio de Janeiro’s skyline an…

I should be helping my oldest son pack for college, but instead, I am making lists of what I ought to be doing while compulsively eating through another son’s bag of Hi-Chew candy.

MESA, Ariz. (AP) — While many conservative-leaning religious voters warmed to him long ago, Trump has struggled to win over Latter-day Saints. His penchant for foul language clashes with the church’s culture teaching modesty and self-restraint, and his isolationist foreign policy is anathema…

As I was thinking about the times and season that we are living in, I remembered the words written in the 10th century BC by the Preacher in Ecclesiastes: “For everything there is a season, a time for every activity under heaven. A time to be born and a time to die. A time to plant and a tim…

A couple weeks ago, my husband got a text from a church ward member asking him to help cut down a tree.

I recently visited Zion and Yosemite National Parks for the first time. What a joy it was to hike through them both! While at Yosemite, a friend offered me a quote from author John Piper: “Standing on the edge of the Grand Canyon and contemplating your own greatness is pathological.” Isn’t t…

(AP) — Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan on Friday formally reconverted Istanbul’s sixth-century iconic Hagia Sophia into a mosque and declared it open to Muslim worship, hours after a high court annulled a 1934 decision that had turned it into a museum.

SALT LAKE CITY (AP) — It was not until Aug. 7, 1970, when his brother, Ken, was buried alive while sand-surfing down a Michigan dune, that Steve Klemz began to lean toward the ministry.

I’ve got a Zip-Loc bag of Amish Friendship Bread starter sitting on my kitchen counter.

What are you longing for at this time? While peace may not top your list, I’m certain that it’s somewhere on everyone’s list. Peace encompasses many of the things that we feel a lack of today; everything from relational peace to civil peace to spiritual peace. Maybe you have a longing for on…

NEW YORK (AP) — The Rev. Joseph Dutan recalls how he lifted the chalice in the empty church and felt a flood of emotions: grief, the pain of isolation, even doubt.

With Governor Herbert’s directive allowing churches to meet while observing certain social distancing requirements, many of Cache Valley’s churches have or will soon resume services. A number of churches like ours will meet this Sunday for the first time in 2 months. For better or worse, it …

Remotely read Hindu prayers containing verses from the world’s oldest known scriptures will open the meetings of eight city councils and two county commissions in Northern Utah during the next two weeks.

One of Charles Dickens’ better known quotes is from The Tale Of Two Cities: “It was the best of times, it was the worst of times, it was the age of wisdom, it was the age of foolishness, it was the epoch of belief, it was the epoch of incredulity, it was the season of light, it was the seaso…

Today is Holy Saturday, the day between Good Friday and Easter — we might say, “It’s always darkest before the dawn.” The darkness of Good Friday when Jesus was crucified and died was replaced by the light of the resurrection remembered at Easter. On Holy Saturday between the two, I want to …

My family is only on about Day 23 of our efforts to save the world by staying home, and I would like to share my many brilliant insights.

Elder Ammon Jensen woke up on March 17 ready to start his normal responsibilities, but by that night, he and 120 other missionaries would be on their way out of the Philippines, racing against COVID-19 restrictions.

In a throwback to the time of drive-in movies, Mt. Logan Baptist Church in North Logan is planning a drive-in church service Sunday in its parking lot at 1601 N. 400 East.

COVID-19 has upended all of our lives. With local schools shuttered and parents left scrambling to find daycare so they can work, both employees and employers are feeling the impact of the uncertainty that is gripping our community. With each day bringing a new and deeper reason for concern …

This week I found myself at a big-box store, standing in front of a near-empty shelf that usually holds children’s pain relievers.

When in college, I left the church denominational affiliation I had grown up in. There were many reasons, but the primary one was that it did not proclaim the biblical message of the salvation that brings us hope. Instead it preached a humanistic message of what we are to do.

The stores are stocked with cards and candy to observe Valentine’s Day, but it was a recent trip to the veterinarian’s office that left me feeling better prepared to celebrate love.

MINNEAPOLIS (AP) — In Midwestern boots or bare feet in sandals, the faithful walked in procession down a snow-covered street here, keeping the rhythm of festive music and carrying paintings of St. Paul, the patron saint of their hometown of Axochiapan, Mexico.

WASHINGTON (AP) — A Supreme Court that seems more favorable to religion-based discrimination claims is set to hear a case that could make it easier to use public money to pay for religious schooling in many states.

The local non-profit the Center for Pregnancy Choices (The Center) is celebrating 11 years of caring for women facing unplanned pregnancies. The community is invited to a meet and greet Ice Cream Social at Cache Valley Bible Fellowship on Saturday, Jan. 25 at 6:30. The mission of The Center …

Sometimes receiving actually is giving.

KHARTOUM, Sudan (AP) — The Sudanese Christian marchers weaved through bustling markets and traffic-clogged streets wearing “I Love Jesus” T-shirts or colorful traditional robes known as thobes.

Stop.

Every December, against my better judgment and any wisdom learned from past experience, I attempt to create precious Christmas traditions with my children.

‘Tis the Season…

Sandy Biggs has a very long Christmas shopping list, but luckily she’s had a lot of help filling it this year.

Last weekend, my family went out to dinner and my sons received an unexpected gift.

The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints’ Pocatello Temple is starting to take shape and now has much of its steel frame in place.

U.S. cardinals needed someone who was willing, in the spring of 2002, to face waves of microphones and cameras and answer questions about a clergy sexual abuse crisis that kept growing more and more intense.

Anne Graham Lotz has done her share of thinking about the past, present and future of evangelism — which is understandable, since her father, Billy Graham, liked to call her the "best preacher in the family."

A couple weeks ago I got a late-evening text from a woman in my ward.

A singing performance by The LeBarons and a talk by Jennie Taylor, the widow of Afghanistan war casualty and former North Ogden Mayor Brent Taylor, will highlight the 30th annual Family Conference hosted by the American Mothers of Cache Valley.

Panama celebrates ‘Black Christ’ as part of protest of colonialism

Overcoming obstacles and changing course in life will be the subject of a talk by former Utah State University basketball star Gary Wilkinson, presented by the interfaith organization Cache Community Connections.

We live by faith, not by sight. (2 Corinthians 5:7)

Lovers of young adult dystopian novels may be pleased to learn about a local author’s recently published book that revolves around secret government-funded programs and children who gain supernatural powers.

Last week, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints made headlines for clarifying parts of its health code, the Word of Wisdom. Cold tea is still tea — and discouraged, Church leaders stated. Drinks ending in “-ccino” are coffee drinks; thus, members are asked not to drink them, eithe…

Recently the truth of the expression the “weakest link” has been evident to me. For a variety of reasons, we’ve needed to replace seven tires on our vehicles due to unrepairable flats and tire failures. Certainly, there are more important parts to our vehicles than tires, but recently tires …

A Forbes article offered an example of the expression of a “one in a million chance” that made me smile.