“Thar’ she blows,” a friend quipped of his late wife. A sweet soul and my dear friend, she apparently hid a temper under her skin, not easily aroused but impressive to its recipients. He spoke of it with a twinkle in his eye, love in his laugh, and loss deep in his heart. Her spunky […]
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“Is there wildlife?” she asked over the phone. After moving from the midwest where deer and antelope play and seldom is heard a discouraging word, I paused just a moment to consider. Well, there is my husband, I thought. “Deer,” I replied. We are supposedly retired here in the east. Wildlife no more. But, my […]
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“What?” he asks. Only it’s not so much a question as a two-year-old’s bold reaction to just about everything. His forehead draws together, his questioning mouth opens and his head jerks around. His spreads his legs. His little man hand stretches upright like a policeman stopping traffic. “What?” “Wait for me.” “What?” My kids did […]
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“And when the people of Ashdod rose early the next day, behold, Dagon had fallen face downward on the ground before the ark of the Lord. So they took Dagon and put him back in his place.” 1 Sam. 5:3 ESV Snow is falling thick outside our Virginia home. It is beautiful in the way […]
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The last week of December always feels a little like an in-between to me. It’s between holidays, months and years. Akin to adolescent years, somewhere between child and teenager, life has a lot of uncomfortable in-betweens, like the “uberty” one of my young nieces recently admitted to being in. “Uberty” is not a good […]
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In the sweat and grime of one contraction bursting upon another, I concentrated on a child yet unknown, but one already knit with my own heart. Birth in that moment was all about bringing into a hospital room a living breathing little being. The focus was laser pointed on a baby, and nothing else mattered. […]
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My son’s eyes sparkled like sun kissed waters when he pulled a bright red package from under the tree. His little hands reverently held the wrapped box, its smashed bow wobbled, as if ready to lean over the edge and run away. He looked my way. Suddenly shy, my six-year-old hesitated, a worried brow […]
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“And it came to pass in those days” Luke 2:1, “that there went out a decree from Caesar Augstus that all the world should be taxed.” (KJV) What were “those days?” If your feet walked the dust of then, where would they take you? Why after years of prophecy was the time ripe in Bethlehem […]
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I learned to really appreciate this American tradition in a place where it was not celebrated. Our first years we felt alone without family. We joined with fellow North Americans, friends from the same background, others who knew its tradition. Uniquely cultural, Thanksgiving Day grew to include neighbors, friends and curiously interested acquaintances. We astounded […]
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Almost three years had passed, since our daughter’s illness, but the pain hadn’t lifted. It wrapped around me like a lead blanket. Peter, Jesus’ disciple and I were buds. “While walking by the Sea of Galilee, He saw two brothers, Simon (who is called Peter) and Andrew his brother, casting a net into the sea, […]
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