Fred Rogers, aka Mr. Rogers, often quoted his mother who offered advice during his childhood about scary events on the news.

“Look for the helpers,” she said. “You will always find people who are helping.”

Today, the news couldn’t be scarier because those helpers are in trouble.

These days, I’m opening scores of emails from companies announcing their new COVID-19 policies. Grocery stores tell me they are disinfecting carts. Car rental companies proclaim their vehicles are safe to rent and schools promise to operate online.

They are all good polices, but the pandemic plan I prefer to follow is “Let’s Thrive, Not Just Survive.”

It was an icy morning when I trudged the uphill sidewalk that skirts the University of Nevada campus. Behind me, I heard the huffing of a fellow student approaching on his bicycle and I moved to my right to yield for faster traffic.

However, I unwittingly detoured the bicyclist already approaching my right and sent him onto a muddy knoll. He managed to stay upright as he passed me. Then, with his tires spitting mud and his voice dripping sarcasm, he yelled, “Thank you SO much!”

Reverence for Rituals Misspelling redefines spiritual care By Norris Burkes February 2020 In 2002, I was so thrilled to begin work as a chaplain for Sutter Medical Center in Sacramento that I failed to notice the typo on my ID badge. It took more than a year, but a...

I spend a lot of time in Sin City.

I know Las Vegas isn’t the place where you’d think a chaplain should visit, but business and family often send me there.