This article by Ray Spitzenberger first appeared in IMAGES for January 2, 2020, East Bernard Express, East Bernard, Texas.             Some time between Christmas Day and New Year’s Day, my family follows an old family tradition of building a jigsaw puzzle together. On December 29, 2019, we poured out 1,000 pieces of “’T’was the Twilight […]

This article by Ray Spitzenberger first appeared in IMAGES for December 26, 2019, East Bernard, Texas.             As we began to prepare for Christmas last week, my wife and I discussed stocking stuffers, including what kind of candy to put in the family stockings we recently hung. Of the various kinds of candy St. Nicholas

This article by Ray Spitzenberger first appeared in IMAGES for December 12, 2019, East Bernard Express, East Bernard, Texas.             Gluttony was a rather unpleasant character in Medieval Morality Plays, and I’m afraid he becomes our split personality persona during Christmas dinner. All year long we follow our Weight-Watcher’s Diet, but the allurement of a

This article by Ray Spitzenberger first appeared in IMAGES for December 5, 2019, East Bernard Express, East Bernard, Texas. You should be getting and reading this week’s East Bernard Express on December 5, 2019, the Eve of the Feast of St. Nicholas (according to Lutheran and Catholic liturgical calendars, and according to Catholic tradition in

This article by Ray Spitzenberger first appeared in IMAGES for November 28, 2019, East Bernard Express, East Bernard, Texas.             When someone calls a person a “turkey,” he usually means the person is a flop, a failure, a stupid person. In show business, a show that flops is called a “turkey.” Considering the negative connotation

This article by Ray Spitzenberger first appeared in IMAGES for November 21, 2019, East Bernard Express, East Bernard, Texas.             More and more, it seems our lives are color-coded, both in the secular world and in the Church. You can see this right after Halloween, when the retail stores begin replacing orange and black items

This article by Ray Spitzenberger first appeared in IMAGES for November 14, 2019, East Bernard Express, East Bernard, Texas.             Some years ago, my son-in-law and I had a bay boat and we went fishing quite often in Matagorda Bay. Having grown up in Dime Box and having fished only in Lee County creeks and

This article by Ray Spitzenberger first appeared in IMAGES November 7, 2019, East Bernard Express, East Bernard, Texas. In retrospect, I can’t say for sure why I wanted to be a pastor and serve a congregation, — obviously it wasn’t for the money. I think it may have been for the same reason someone wants

This article by Ray Spitzenberger first appeared in IMAGES for October 24, 2019, East Bernard Express, East Bernard, Texas.             During my growing-up years, German and Slavic polka music was so much a joyful part of my life that I suspect the love for polkas must be in my DNA! Although the polka was “invented”

This article by Ray Spitzenberger first appeared in IMAGES for October 17, 2019, East Bernard Express, East Bernard, Texas.             Several weeks ago when I took an infrequent drive-around-our-farming-area, I noticed that the fields were white with cotton, and I’m sure that the Farmers Co-Op Gin in East Bernard and the Tavener Gin were open