Golden Day
Today’s the day. Your golden birthday. Twenty years old on September 20th. Officially, you are no longer a teenager. And you look like a man with your hairy legs, lean and muscled body from running, and face that Dad and I still have to remind you to shave—at least on Sunday mornings. Twenty years old. […]
The Harvester Tree
I have never written a poem. There is my disclaimer. But I can’t get the image of a particular tree in Alaska out of my mind. And so I wrote words—words that tumbled out of my mind and onto a page. Perhaps you might find some meaning, some hope, from these few words spilled, even if […]
Bear and Fish, Fear and Trust
The bush plane descends and the pilot directs our attention to the ground through the right windows. “Those black dots down there are bears,” Glen tells the three of us traveling to Geographic Harbor, a remote spot on the coast of Alaska. We learn that people come from all around the globe to this exact […]
Zucchini God
That’s right. Here on the farm, we have a zucchini God. The day before, we had a visit from the corn God. Now before anybody gets freaked out and thinks I’ve gone AWOL on the one and only triune God, read on. In all my years, I have never seen a longer spring or a […]
Remember the Corn
Dear Little Faith, Remember last spring when you wrote that piece about corn? Remember how you photographed fields of weeds by your house and said how the farmers weren’t able to plant because of the cold and the wet? Remember how you said everyone was wondering if they’d ever be able to seed the ground […]
Leap of Faith
On my 54th birthday this past Friday, five barn swallow babies too big for their nest took a leap of faith. Their first flight, from front porch nest to front porch railing, was short but successful. Wings worked. And there they perched, waiting for parent to come and feed, then gobbling up the nutritious offerings. The […]
Home: A Pigeon Peace
So I’m in the home stretch, stretching for home. Since I was sixteen, I’ve been told I should write a book by many people in many places. Not that I’ve finished, but I’ve begun—what I don’t know—and I’m about to complete my first goal given by my soon-to-be-mentor for a week in Alaska. I can […]
Turtles and Grapes
Rome wasn’t built in a day, the saying goes. Big accomplishments always start small. But sometimes it’s hard to accept my smallness when I’ve got my eyes on others’ bigness. And it’s easy to stop taking steps forward when we don’t know exactly where we’re going. Growth hurts. Is it worth the pain? I’m struggling […]
Snakes and Doves
What I feared came to pass Sunday night, Father’s Day, when her father was out of town and only her mother was here to deal. Our daughter was accosted by a man in a parking lot near her apartment. What do parents do when they have raised a young lady to be Christ-like? When […]
Mission Possible
In 1803, President Thomas Jefferson sent off two brave explorers, Meriwether Lewis and William Clark, with their entourage and supplies enough for two years. They set out from St. Louis along the Mississippi River to explore the newly purchased Louisiana Territory, following water route to the Pacific Ocean. Sounds simple. The journey was anything but. […]
Anchors and Chains
When pain is to be borne, a little courage helps more than much knowledge, a little human sympathy more than much courage, and the least tincture of the love of God more than all. C.S. Lewis, The Problem of Pain “Toto, we’re not in Kansas anymore,” Dorothy says it as she wakes up from […]
He Reigns
The horrible. The gorgeous. The juxtaposition of ugly and beautiful right next to each other in one day. Isn’t this life? Not normally one to spend much time on the phone, I found myself with cell attached to ear more than I like yesterday. People I care about are dealing with some downright ugly evil. […]