I was my big brothers’ TV remote. I can still hear their call. Through the bleaching heat waves of Kansas, over the baked and cracked ground, their summons reached me. Underfoot brown farm grass crunched crispy-fried. An adoring mutt panted at my side, his long tongue hung red and wet. I loved being outside in […]
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“Just hang on,” he told me. I was at the wrong end of a washing machine stuck cattywampus in the stairwell half-way down to the basement. The heavy metal box towered above as I tried to hold it from sliding on top of me. I did just as he said, I hung on. I didn’t […]
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A shadow, long and wide, interrupted the sunshine for just a moment and then glided over the bright green foliage. My grandson and I squinted into the blue above us. We saw the outstretched wings of a big black hawk as it soared above the trees. It’s shadow slithered over us. For just a moment […]
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You were at boarding school and we were six hours from you in our ministry. Our first and oldest to fly from home, you seemed far too young, and we felt so unready. But, the label “Missionary Kid” found a home with other third-world high-schoolers from all over Europe. And for the first time, you […]
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If you are a fan of home improvement networks like I am, you are well acquainted with the satisfaction some people get from Demolition Day. It’s like party time. However, although I enjoy those shows, I much prefer to watch the process on a screen from my couch, than to experience it. If you […]
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We all have them, markers of good and bad in our lives. April marks our spot. It’s another anniversary of when life altered through our daughter’s illness. I often wish I could box up our difficult experience which happened many years ago, and put it on a shelf like those seasonal totes which I take […]
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Our last few weeks have been ones of weeping with those who weep as we’ve watched dear friends mourn the loss of a beloved son. Yet, they have also been days of seeing glimpses of pure glory shining into the dark. It isn’t the first time God has displayed His light inside a penetrating darkness […]
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In August of 2017 an eclipse marked our path in Kansas City, Missouri, where we lived. I wrote about it on a blog then. Today, we live in Virginia, not smack in the center, but still near to the path of totality. April 8, 2024 highlights the same truth as the eclipse of six years […]
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We call them “thorny situations.” They describe something we’d usually rather avoid. Because thorns hurt. Because a situation wrought with barbs and little wiggle room is bound to bring pain. As we contemplate the Easter story, how appropriate for thorns to appear both in the Garden and at the Cross. When the Creator spoke the […]
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“It’s too heavy,” he whined. His little hands strained to lift a fat rough log. He wanted to imitate his grandpa who seemed to hoist them like twigs into a wheelbarrow. The red cheeks of a five-year-old, his desperate grunts, and unhappy face drew my husband over to help. Grandpa carried one end and together […]
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