By Forrest Adams

Chanhassen resident and Faith Presbyterian Church pastor Chris Carlson sneezed for 10 months in Afghanistan, the “dustiest place” he’s ever been, but now the 54-year-old chaplain is back for a humid Minnesota summer.

His army reserve unit returned in March. The deployment was from May 1, 2008, to March 1, 2009. Carlson was back in the pulpit at Faith Presbyterian in Minnetonka on Easter Sunday, April 12.

By Timothy A. Johnson

There is a strange sense of responsibility that has come over me. It has been five months since I underwent quintuple coronary bypass surgery and in the wake of that experience I have developed a new awareness of the great investment that has been made in me and my survival.

By Michael Miller

Pastor Rod Anderson

I’ve participated in two commencement ceremonies in the past two weeks – one seminary and one college – and I’m inspired! Now come high school baccalaureates and graduations and then all those wonderful graduate receptions. It’s one of the best times to proudly gather around graduates and their friends to breathe hope and promise into their future. I love this time of year!

Spirit Bound will present a performance of “Dead or Alive” at 9:30 a.m. Sunday, June 7, at Prairie Lutheran Church, 11000 Blossom Road, Eden Prairie.

The contemporary, original musical production, is “an exciting hour of song with a story of a group of young people who discover how God has reached out to them, and wants them to help others become alive in Jesus Christ,” according to a news release.

By Dr. Bernard E Johnson

I’ve been thinking about in-flight conversations. I spend a fair amount of time traveling for my work. I meet very interesting people on almost every flight. The life and work stories of my fellow travelers have become unanticipated gifts in the strenuous world of business travel.

By Michael Miller

I’m seeing green! The landscape with green lawns and green buds opening on trees is taking us from late winter brown to spring green. Green is a color. Green is also a way of living. “Going green” means practicing the “3 R’s” which are: reduce, reuse, recycle.

St. Andrew Lutheran Church in Eden Prairie welcomes cast members from the Church Basement Ladies production of Plymouth Playhouse fame on Saturday, May 9. It begins with an old-fashioned church basement lunch at 11:45 that includes hot dishes, red Jell-O and bars followed by a presentation titled “Use Your Food, a Guide to Healthy Living Inside and Out, from Our Kitchen to Yours.” Eat like a Lutheran (but all denominations are welcomed).

By Rod Anderson

If any one day can attract more meanings than one day can handle, May Day has! Few would think of it as a religious holiday, not just because it’s not a day off in our country, but rather because its many meanings are quite unknown. The day literally multi-tasks its way into obscurity, and yet we feel attracted to it. Maybe it’s just the rhyming ring of saying it out loud – “May Day” – or maybe it’s just the hope of spring that is signified by its arrival on the calendar! Just Google “May Day” and you’ll see what I mean.

Grace Church in Eden Prairie will host a free showing of the movie "Fireproof" at 6 p.m. Saturday, May 2.

"Fireproof is the third feature film from Sherwood Pictures, the creators of 'Facing the Giants' and 'Flywheel.' An action-packed love story, Fireproof will have audiences laughing, crying and inching toward the edge of their seats as they are drawn into the world of a firefighter, his wife ... and a marriage worth rescuing," according to a news release.