God’s Three Answers
The winter storm smacked us hard Monday night right before our youngest finished his shift at PetSmart. A twenty minute straight shot down I-43 should be nothing, right? But I’ve learned never to assume any trip will end well. A while ago, a woman who has worked as relief staff for our daughter’s assisted living […]
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 […]
On the Edge: How Now Shall We Live?
Here is the world. You can kiss your family and friends good-bye and put miles between you, but at the same time, you carry them with you in your heart, your mind, your stomach, because you do not just live in a world but a world lives in you. Frederick Buechner Our float plane’s […]
You are Worth More Than the Cost of a Wedding
How to Have the Most Beautiful, Most Memorable, Least Expensive Life Ever Last week, I posted about the impromptu wedding on our farm. From the announcement to the bride walking down the aisle, three hours elapsed. Time allowed only for fresh flowers picked from gardens and fields, a dress the bride had never worn, and […]
The Wedding That Eclipsed the Eclipse
We stood on the concrete driveway, two of our three grown kids and me. Anna and Nick stared up at the cloud-covered sky as our bare feet soaked up the warmth from the sun we couldn’t see. I looked around. The grass seemed greener. The swallows flocked together. The temperature dropped. Though not completely dark, […]
Foreign Affairs and What’s Right With the World
Terrorist attacks. My two sons and my husband are heading to London and Paris in two weeks for a WWII trip . . . I pray. I reflect . . . I put a poster board together for him Saturday, the day before he walked the aisle. The day before he took his seat among […]
Dust to Dust And The Peace that Comes with Letting Go
They carried her to the altar, their mother. They carried her, all ash in a small wooden box. They covered her with a white cloth, embroidered with a cross. A cross. Where Christ paid for our ultimate reconciliation—restored relation between holy God and sinner. Between sinners and sinners . . . All watched […]
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 […]
Family Vacation Fiasco [How We Survive and Grow through the Breakdowns and Meltdowns of Transitions and Transmissions]
When January rolls in, we start reminiscing about family traditions, one being our annual ski trip “up nort” as the Uppers (people living in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan) like to pronounce their homeland. Every January for I don’t know how many years, we’ve been stuffing our car like those Johnsonville brats we Cheeseheads […]
Sacrificial Love and Letting Yourself Be Held By the Very Able Hand of God
Anne asked me. Said she needed me to come. Her past few phone messages in my voicemail sounded different—not quite desperate but certainly bold in expressing her request. “I need to see you.” Five strong words. Does a new diagnosis of Alzheimer’s do this to a person? When you’re 69? Do you suddenly wonder how […]
My Second Best Christmas Gift of All Time
Of course, the best Christmas gift of all time is Christ himself. On Christmas morning, I received my second best Christmas gift of all time. We’d been to church on Christmas Eve and seen and heard all the kids dressed up as Mary, Joseph, wise men, shepherds and a bunch of shaggy, smelly sheep. We’d […]
When You’ve Loved and Lost and You Need Another Miracle
MaryAnn Lammers smiled through her tears as Pastor gathered our attention during after-service coffee downstairs. “Today is MaryAnn’s 63rd wedding anniversary.” Only, MaryAnn’s love went to glory last year right before Christmas. Her heart still cries for her loss—63 years of walking as one and raising a house full of kids. When heart and soul are […]