Sean Dietrich
Columnist
Sean is a writer for The Observer
Sean Dietrich's Latest
OPINION — The last penny has been minted. The humble American “pence” shall be no more. It’s too expensive to produce. It just doesn’t make sense. No pun implied. The penny costs roughly four cents to manufacture. It’s simply not efficient....
OPINION — When I read something that I like, I claim the author as my friend. It’s an idea I picked up from my friend, Elton Trueblood. One day, when we were talking together, he shared a quote by “my friend Samuel Johnson.” Remembering that...
BY WALT ALBRITTON OPINION — My voice was steady. I was calm and composed as I explained to my friends that like the Apostle Paul, “I have learned to be content whatever the circumstances” (Philippians 4:11). I wanted them to know that, with the...
OPINION —Boaz is a town about as big as your average water heater closet. It was a quiet night. The sun had set. Houses were lit from the insides.The Bevill Center was packed. The parking lot was slammed. Families of all kinds gathered in the...
OPINION — When Dean and I were enjoying a boat ride on the Sea of Galilee, I thought about that day when Peter and Andrew, and James and John, heard the call of Jesus. They were ordinary fishermen, fishing for a living, tending their...
OPINION — KAILUA, Hawaii — It’s dark outside. It’s late. Or is it early? Hard to remember. Been a long day.Here she comes. Jogging. People are cheering. They should be. She just finished swimming 2.4 miles, pedaling 112 miles and running 26...
OPINION — O ver the years I have often found solace in the words of Thomas A'kempis. With the exception of the Bible, “The Imitation of Christ” has been the most popular of all Christian writing for the past 500 years. My habit is to...
OPINION — Sixty-one percent of American adults say they’re lonely. Sixty-one percent. Think about that. You probably missed this information, but loneliness was recently listed as an epidemic by the U.S. Surgeon General and the World Health...
OPINION —You know what I wish? I wish I could hug everyone in the world.I think I’d start by hugging the young waitress in the restaurant where I had lunch. Earlier that day, she was cussed out by an angry customer. He screamed at her. Called her a...
BY SEAN DIETRICH OPINION — It was only an experiment. I wanted to see if I could change America in only one day by being the nicest person on earth for 24 hours.I’m not talking normal-nice. I’m talking obscenely nice. I’m talking...
BY WALT ALBRITTON OPINION — Questions abound in our daily lives. We communicate with questions: “How are you?” “How’s the family?” “What have you been doing?”Jesus used questions brilliantly in his teaching. Spend a few minutes with me imagining...
OPINION — The little boy was with his mom, sitting in a truckstop diner. The boy was bald, wearing a loose T-shirt. A large bandage showed from beneath his collar.Before the boy sat a massive meal. Bacon. Eggs. Huge glass of chocolate milk. Stack...
BY WALT ALBRITTON OPINION — I cringe every time I hear someone spit out the bitter words, “I will never forgive him (or her) for what he (or she) did to me!” And yet over the years I have heard those angry words more than once. I wince because I...
BY SEAN DIETRICH OPINION — I woke up looking for God. I always look for Him in the mornings. Sometimes, however, He’s hard to find. Sometimes He hides.I went through my morning routine. I made the coffee. Let the dogs out to pee.I turned on the TV...
OPINION — A good friend caught me off guard with a gentle rebuff. He had listened patiently while I rehearsed my story of having been treated unfairly. He had heard all the gory details before, even though the hurtful event had been history...
BY WALT ALBRITTON OPINION — As Peter walked on the seashore toward Jesus, the smell of burning charcoal reminded him of another charcoal fire. He was warming himself at that fire when a girl asked if he was not a follower of Jesus. Oh, no, Peter...
BY SEAN DIETRICH OPINION — How I ended up walking into a sliding glass door in a supermarket is pretty simple. I got a text from my wife. I looked at my phone to read the message and, WHAM! Goodbye nasal cartilage.I’m not surprised this happened,...
BY SEAN DIETRICH OPINION — It was the dogs. The dogs are what got me. A few years ago, we visited the 9/11 Memorial Museum, and we saw a lot. Twisted steel girders. Baby-faced portraits of the deceased. Mutilated emergency vehicles.But it was the...
OPINION — Goals change with age. At six my goal was to have a bicycle. At eight it was to own a Daisy Red Ryder BB Gun. At 10, I wanted to be a member of the Lone Ranger’s Safety Club. A year later, I wanted a 20 gauge shotgun. At 12, I wanted a...
OPINION — Some years ago, a friend suggested that I invite Ralph Freeman to sing in my church. I did so, and soon Ralph was more than a gifted singer, he was my dear brother in Christ.From the moment I first heard Ralph Freeman sing about Jesus, I...