Spirituality In Everyday Life

Norris Burkes

As a military and hospital chaplain, I routinely observe the stories of faith in the everyday lives of real people. My site tells those faith stories in a humorous, hope-filled, and honest way. I believe you will find them inspiring and potentially life-changing. Most of all, I believe the insight within these stories will connect with your story in a meaningful way. Enjoy!

Thriving Beyond Surviving

A black and white arrow pointing to the left. As a hospital and military Chaplain Norris Burkes has seen things he must never tell. Yet as a syndicated columnist in 38 secular newspapers around the country, he has found ways to share shades of the sacred with his readers.

This book compiles ten years of newspaper columns that takes you into the military battlefield as well as the trauma rooms of major hospitals.

-Get The Book!

Recent Columns From Norris Burkes

Dec 20, 2024

By Norris Burkes Dec 22 2024 This is the time of year when writers like to recount their “Best Christmas ever.” Their stories often include a video of a slobbering puppy leaping from a ribbon-covered box or a marriage proposal, or my favorite, a deployed soldier surprising her family with an early homecoming. But if […]

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Dec 13, 2024

By Norris Burkes, Dec 15 2024 If anyone has ever tried to convince you to get religion, change religion, or even lose your religion, then you’ll probably relate to this column. In the early 1980s I was attending Golden Gate Seminary, just outside San Francisco, when I went to work as an advertising intern for […]

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Dec 06, 2024

Chaplain Dale Swan and wife Jill By Norris Burkes Dec 8 2024 This week, I’m very happy to announce the 65th birthday of my good friend Dale Swan. Yes, he’s still alive, despite the wishes of his wife Jill. No, wait. That sounds bad. Jill and Dale are a very fit and happy couple, so […]

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Nov 28, 2024

Thanksgiving 2024 As I built a post-election gratitude list and remembered a question routinely asked by the minister of music in a church I pastored. He’d stand behind the big Baptist pulpit and ask this question of his sleepy and aging congregation: “Would you rather be in the best prison in America or here in […]

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