Sep 11
I distinctly remember the last time my family and I went tent camping…and why we never did again after that experience. It was the summer of 1983 and my pastor-husband convinced me that it would be fun for our daughters and me to join him on the youth group camping trip. So I packed up …
May 22
I’m pretty sure the only thing “small” about Mother Teresa’s life was her stature. Nearly 50 years of sacrificially serving the “the unwanted, the unloved, the uncared for” hardly seems to qualify as doing “small things.” But there’s certainly no doubt that this diminutive nun, honored in 1979 with the Nobel Peace Prize, was …
May 08
Have you ever prayed a desperate prayer? You know, the kind where you cry out to God because there is absolutely nothing you can do to “fix” the situation? I’ve prayed plenty of those. I remember a time I was trying to get to the grocery store for some needed supplies before a snowstorm hit. …
Apr 10
My grandchildren never seem to tire of playing hide ‘n’ seek. They love scurrying around to find a “a really good place” while admonishing my husband and me to “keep your eyes closed!” Eventually 4-year-old Abby yells out “Ready!” which makes it pretty easy to follow the sound of her voice to her not-so-hidden special …
Mar 20
I’ve been thinking a lot about odds–good odds, bad odds, no odds–because as soon as I finish writing this blog I’m filling out my bracket for the NCAA basketball championship as I attempt to predict all 67 game winners. The odds I will do that correctly are rather slim: 1 in 9.2 quintillion, according to …
Feb 13
As I watch the occupational therapist move along the table working on the hands of all of us seated there, I can’t help but be confused by the different ways he handles our injured extremities. Seated next to me is a young woman less than half my age with a scar on top of her …
Feb 06
I had to smile when I read this, considering the incredibly stressful months my husband and I recently have faced with one health crisis after another. How about you? Does it feel as if God may have overestimated your ability to handle problems? Are you pretty sure that what you’re facing is too much? Well, …
Jan 09
It’s often said that there are two kinds of people in life: optimists and pessimists. You probably think I’m going to tell you to be an optimist, but I’m not. And that’s because optimism will not always change the inevitable. Take the case of the optimist who fell out of the twelfth-story window. As he went …
Dec 12
Guest blog by Brian Jones Our goal as disciples of Jesus shouldn’t be to eliminate pain. Our goal should be to craft the kind of life that is invincible to pain. Those who learn how to be invincible to pain–“incapable of being conquered, overcome or subdued”–are an unstoppable force. This is what Jesus meant when …
Oct 31
May 8, 1977. Mother’s Day. The day before I had been excitedly opening” mother-to-be” cards and looking longingly at the maternity clothes I would soon need to wear. Now I was lying in a hospital bed with an empty womb. Really, Lord? A miscarriage on Mother’s Day? This would be awful on any day, but …
