“Ahh! Salaam and good evening to you, worthy friend. Please, please, come closer,” our tween-aged daughter motioned with her hand. From the movie Aladdin, she knew every word, every gesture, every accent and intonation. Suddenly she shot out a stiff arm, her hand like a rigid stop sign. “Too close! A leeettle too close.” Children […]
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What is a “new creation?” Am I one? Are you? “…if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come.” 2 Corinthians 5:17 (ESV). Who Gets What? Backgrounds. Everyone has them. They are the backdrop of our todays, the backstory of our narrative. Some people […]
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“See that Momma?” a little voice by my side questioned. His face tilted up toward the sky. His eyes squinted against the brightness. I followed the line from where his finger pointed to see a grouping of magnificent clouds with a golden center. Light streamed through in breathtaking rays. “That’s how it’s gonna look when […]
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I wish my kids had known her better, the woman I called Mom. I would like to have them remember how her hands flew over the piano keys, and see the line of piano students that came to the front door for lessons. I wish they knew how every day after school she waited for […]
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I confess to cheating. I eat a few stolen calories I don’t add to my count. I spend money on an outfit and hope it goes unnoticed. Oh and another really bad one…I cut my walk by skimping off the cul-de-sac. Sure, I know those aren’t horrible cheats, but the other day I realized how […]
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Life holds a succession of pivotal moments. They distinguish themselves with phrases like, “from now on,” “if I had it to do all over again, “never again,” or “I’ve made my decision.” But there are sacred tipping points too. I love to hear salvation stories, those unique testimonies of how Jesus found and chose, how […]
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“Don’t step on the lava!” It’s a chorus of young and old watching little bare feet hop, skip, and jump from pillow to pillow, over and under chairs. My youngest grandson just turned four. His genius mom, with her creative birthday party juices, has done it again. Complete with lava cake and a “real” volcano […]
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This morning I woke up feeling like it was time to go to bed, like every year of my life creaked and groaned somewhere or someplace in my connections. Purpose felt dried and brittle. Pieces of life felt disconnected. Then I read Psalm 92, a song sung as part of Old Testament Sabbath worship. It […]
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“I am so ready for an angel to come,” Phil said that morning. I’d been thinking the same. I got up from my cot next to our daughter’s bed and joined my husband where he stood at her side. It was a ritual, a new sort of rotten routine that had just a pinch of […]
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There is a lovely little addition behind our house so covered in Virginia woods I didn’t even know it existed until the leaves dropped. The first autumn we lived here, I saw a light from a kitchen window barely distinguishable through the balding trees. As more leaves fell, more house and lights showed. In full […]
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