“No, no, no,” he said. He held his little hand like a stop sign. His voice raised a breathy octave. “Let’s not play it like that, let’s say if you want to move ahead on red, you can.” He nodded up and down, cocked his head to the side and put his pleading blue eyes […]
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Anybody who grew up barefoot on a Kansas farm knows about stickers. A flat lying torture-in-waiting plant with seeds like tiny wooden barbs. They spread viciously, looking for tender skin to walk on them. Impossible to let fester, they took a lot of courage to pull out. I hated stickers growing up. Word had it […]
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I heard the truck-stop bathroom door squeak open from my perch inside the painted wooden stall. “Oh Momma!” A little voice said full of wonder. “It’s pink.” Pink was an understatement. It was like Pepto-Bismol trying to brighten up a bad case of the runs. It covered every inch of the public lu. My door […]
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The plans of the heart belong to man, but the answer of the tongue is from the Lord. Proverbs 16:1 (ESV) “Life will never be the same,” I told my friend. “No matter how this turns out, life will never be the same again.” We walked through a white marble hospital corridor, its antiseptic walls […]
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Here they come again. Younger each year, or maybe I’m just older. They come with their finger on a map and feet pointed forward, eager to go anywhere and do anything for Jesus. Men and women arrive ready to learn and willing to obey. Every new group of global workers amazes me with talent, energy […]
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Sheets of frozen white driven by cutting wind kept my snow-loving son indoors. By late afternoon, the worst moved past. Glittering flecks blew from drift to drift, tiny razor shards of snow bit into anyone brave enough to challenge the outdoors. My husband shrugged into his marshmallow puffed coat, scarf, and hat to make a […]
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A rubber duck accompanied my walk around the room. I laid it in plain sight on a shelf of the bookcase. Its classic yellow face and orange bill pointed to the door where my daughter would skip through in a few seconds. “Heidi,” I called, “Come find the ducky.” Heidi scampered inside. Her eyes sparkled. They […]
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It was in a moment when the house was quiet, the girls at school and my husband at work that the little blue sleeper called my name again. The sun’s bright rays bleached my vision and I squinted against a row of white sheets flapping in the breeze. I stood still for another moment and […]
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They come, a little bewildered, some heralding children yapping at their ankles and running in circles, some almost newlyweds with blank-slate futures while others brave it alone. Obedient to God’s tap on the shoulder, sensitive to the Holy Spirit’s grip of the heart and passionate about the message of Christ’s gospel, they are willing to […]
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Before the carpenter’s sawdust brushed off, before the wood glue dried, before the grout hardened, the guy I married had to learn a new skill, the pregnant husband trade. Married four short months when the baby test promised more than a case of the flu, we looked at one another in shock. “How in the […]
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