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Thursday, March 27, 2025

Paul Graves

Paul Graves is a retired and re-focused United Methodist pastor and a long-time resident of Sandpoint, Idaho, where he formerly served on city council and mayor. His second career is in geriatric social work, and since 2005 he's been the Lead Geezer-in-Training of Elder Advocates, a consulting and teaching ministry on aging issues. Since 1992, Graves has been a volunteer chaplain for Bonner Community Hospice. His columns regularly appear in The Spokesman-Review's Faith and Values section, and he also writes the Dear Geezer column for the Bonner County Daily Bee and is the host of the bi-weekly Geezer Forum on aging issues in Sandpoint.

We can hurt God? Certainly.

I think we all hurt God in countless ways as we provoke divisions in our close relationships, spew caustic comments offered unthinkingly to a total stranger, be silent in the face of injustice.

Humility, Courage and Confronting Racism

When it comes to the hot and hostile topic of racism, how can I talk so another person will listen? Maybe more importantly, how can I listen so another person will talk?

2020 Unmasked: Blessing and Burden

Yet, in the midst of this very understandable need to mask ourselves, I’m here to affirm that 2020 is a time to UNMASK ourselves! Embrace the blessings and burdens that unmasking reveals!

Getting Unstuck Takes Some Effort

Is the pandemic the reason you feel stuck? Or did your feeling stuck begin before we were asked to shelter-in-place?

Some Essentials About Being Unessential

This debate gets heated when our own sense of “essence” is challenged, even indirectly.

Small Changes, Big Differences

But recently, I’ve seen how the “butterfly effect” impacts us both spiritually and scientifically.

COVID-19 Tests More Than Our Bodies

The health crisis is testing not just our ability, but our willingness to keep our physical distance from other persons even while we reach out to support other people.

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