Finding Meaning & Hope in Life’s Burns
On a sunny spring morning with nearly no breeze, I stood in the still-dormant grass of the ditch just a half-mile up from our home. I watched that old, white farmhouse burn. Flames swirled orange out of every window and door. I felt the heat on my face from across the street. Our 25-year-old son […]
The Wonder Years & How to Move Through Our Doubts and Fears
Have you ever felt inept? Like you suddenly found yourself in the deep end of a pool with absolutely no idea how to swim? Have you ever felt scared of what life’s handed you? Awesome! Me too! I’ve been swimming (dog paddling?) through many challenges I thought beyond my capabilities through each decade […]
Holding on When You’re on the Edge
I’m not kidding. The first five minutes of the mule ride down to the bottom of the Grand Canyon produced a surprising panic in me. After all, I’m an accomplished equestrian, and I’m not particularly afraid of heights. Or, so I thought. I’ve hiked steep, narrow trails on mountains many times. Yet, I had no […]
Silver Hair and Wisdom Hard-Won
“For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the Lord, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.” Jeremiah 29:11 NIV I sit across from him at our favorite Italian restaurant, waiting for our pizza to come out of the wood-fired oven behind […]
Pushing Through the Pain
Her whole body betrays her. Like a sudden massive earthquake, all her muscles convulse. Her teeth chatter. Her hands shake. She can’t chew. She can’t hold a cup of tea. Even talking is hard as she thinks one word but out comes another. Doctors aren’t sure what’s happening deep in that brain. As if her […]
#MeToo And Then Some
Who would win Time Magazine’s “Person of the Year”? Who would be revealed on last Wednesday’s cover. For the first time ever, I was curious. Turns out, the “winner” isn’t a person, per se. Turns out, the “winner” is . . . The #MeToo movement—a movement that has become a tsunami of women standing up […]
What We All Need to Know About Respect and Servanthood
We rolled slowly along the street, meandering our way to what would soon be two new graves dug in Arlington National Cemetery—two of 400,000 already grassed green. Our vehicle stopped. Six men in crisp Army uniform stood in front of us, facing the awning where we would memorialize and pray for our friend’s father, Sgt. […]
Packs and The Lone Wolf—How to Deal with the Deadly, Including Ourselves
Electric races lightening fast through my nerves around 9:30 p.m. A pack of coyotes starts yipping and barking. They are close. Very close. Right on the edge of the densely wooded ravine next to our log home. My heart thumps hard in my chest. The eerie sounds of the pack grip me as I stand […]
Encouragement for the Broken and Stigmatized
I stepped out of the shadows and declared—on Facebook—during Holy Week—that I was suffering with clinical depression. I had hit the hard floor of desperation on Wednesday before Maundy Thursday in the midst of a medication change, one of several I’d been through over the past twenty years. So why did I dare post and […]
Over the Edge
Are not five sparrows sold for two pennies? Yet not one of them is forgotten by God. Indeed, the very hairs of your head are numbered. Don’t be afraid; you are worth more than many sparrows. Luke 12:6-7 Soon, I will watch the swallows nest in the barn, hatching naked in cups of twig and […]
When You’re Faced with The Unexpected, Expect Joy
Life consists of lists. Surely, we can all list our stresses. Surely, we can all list our joys. We can offer a litany of complaints. We can offer our lips to give thanks. Our loving God invites us to cast all our cares onto Him, because He cares for us (1 Peter 5:7). Truth is, […]
Left and Right Wings (Raw Writing–Unapologetically Unedited)
I flew to St. Martin on the day of the presidential inauguration. Leaving my home at four in the morning with a negative six degrees Fahrenheit freezing my bare ankles, I drove forty-five minutes south and parked my car in Remote Lot A. Thankfully, the airport shuttle had just arrived at the shelter. A young […]