The door opened with a bang against my front hall. “Mom!” Something was wrong. My heart revved like a racecar. I wiped wet hands against my apron and hurried to meet my daughter, home from third grade. Charity fell into my arms, a melted puddle of tears. “I’m such a s-i-n-n-e-r!” She wailed. Sobs ripped […]
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“On Wednesday morning, the first rays of sun were peeking around the clouds,” my daughter Charity wrote. “I swung my legs over the edge of the bed. Strange dizziness clouded my mind. I have a fever, I thought. I must be getting sick. Objects around me seemed to move with each turn of my […]
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“Hey Sis,” she said to get my attention in the store. She was more than double my age with white hair. She looked like my grandma. “Mom,” I hissed, “don’t call me Sis,” I always wanted a sister. Sisters giggle with you when you are supposed to be asleep in bed. They share your clothes […]
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“Momma,” he called from the dark bedroom. “Is Jesus here?” “Yes, Justin.” “Ok, don’t worry Mom, we just can’t see Him,” he shouted from his bed. I plopped down on the sofa, letting Justin’s words reverberate in the frayed edges of my mind. What he so blithely acknowledged and accepted I needed in every part […]
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Sunshine bright with glory bathed our tiny backyard. Blue sky beckoned. Winter months had been long for our four-year-old son, and he was ready for play. “If you need me, I’ll call you,” he shouted a split second before the screen door banged behind him. Its echo slammed inside my head. I plopped down with […]
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I was transported. Seriously. When our kids were small we always read a Bible story before they went to sleep. Sometimes we read different books first, but the last story they could always count on to be a true story from God’s Word. “Ok,” I’d transition, “that was a good story. Now we are going […]
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“Try rebooting,” my husband tells me. It seems rebooting is the castor oil of ailing computers. It always gives me a gut ache, like I may never again see beyond the spinning wheel on my screen. I wonder if the disciples may have felt a bit like that after Jesus died. The Easter holiday is […]
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“…be transformed by the renewal of your mind…” When we lived in Italy I loved the day after Easter because it was also a holiday. While Easter Sunday was chocked full of activity, food and celebration, the day after we recuperated. We slept in, chewed on leftovers and reflected on what had just transpired. Jesus’ […]
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In a backdrop of politics, taxes and kings, the disciples came to Jesus with a question. Who is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven? It was the underlying challenge of Satan when he sought to be like God. Our children attended Italian public grade school. I remember them lined up, three sets of long […]
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“How did you do it?” my daughter asks with an exasperated sigh, the kind that expires like a thin whisper from her soul. She is weary, and the noise level is high. She plops down next to me in a chair and then leans to one side and pulls out a Lego man from under […]
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