Driving Home
What has happened to me has really served to advance the gospel. Philippians 1:12 Driving home in the dark last night, angled arrows of head-lighted sleet pelted my windshield, hypnotizing. Wipers on high could not keep up. White-knuckled fingers gripped the steering wheel and my whole body leaned forward, concentrating, praying . . . Please […]
Hush!
“Our lives begin to end the day we become silent about things that matter.” Martin Luther King Jr. Killed. For having courage. To speak truth. About things that matter. The tower is tilting in Puerto Morelos. Built with ancient pyramid ruins. Set in shifting sand. Still standing. But what good is it? It has no […]
Holy New Year! (So Who’s Our Boss?)
“Happy New Year!” I’m still saying it back to people wishing me the same, this first full week of 2016. Everyone wants to be HAPPY. Blow the horns! Throw the confetti! Spread the cheer! Let them eat cake! And yet there’s a dark spot and it’s spreading wild. We sense it, don’t we? The creeping […]
Storm Warning for a New Year
I watch the words scroll across the television screen . . . WINTER STORM WARNING National Weather Service says it’s supposed to start Monday at 11 AM and continue until Tuesday at 11 AM. Warning’s for all southeast Wisconsin. We’re to expect high winds reaching 40 mph. Four to six inches of snow. Freezing rain. […]
Invisible Threats and Giving Thanks
It’s Thanksgiving week and in Wisconsin there’s a frenzy for bagging a buck, the more points the better. We live in the country. Men in orange (and some women) sit in tree stands, waiting. Some sit in camouflaged blinds, waiting, like my husband and youngest son. They haven’t fired their shotguns yet after two times out. But a huge […]
Running on Full
I hate running. It hurts. So why do I run? I run because I have a gazillion things to do every day. I run because everyone else seems to run and I get caught in the current of busy. Busy. Busy. Busy. We are all so busy. Sometimes I feel more machine than human. More like a factory […]
When You Don’t Know You’re Thirsty But You’re Dying and You’ve Lost Your Way
I’m here in the Sonoran desert of Arizona visting my dad who’s about to turn 83, his skin etched like this dry patch of earth where he has chosen to live out his later years. Here, there’s plenty of sun but a shortage of water. Even the air thirsts. Humidity hovers around ten percent on […]
When You Are Hard-Pressed and You Need to Change Your Mind
My second worst nightmare in my aviation history came true yesterday. My worst nightmare? Of course, a nose-diving plane. But yesterday, though the plane stayed aloft, I was pretty sure my nerves might crash. All on account of my neighbors—25C and 25E. Me? 25D. Yep. Middle seat. Convinced I am the first half-human on the […]
For When You Feel Like A Failure: Kingdom Economics 101
At 3:10 PM, he clomped up those steps to the library, not with his usual enthusiasm. He plopped down in the yellow chair, right by our second-story fireplace, right across from my light blue Lazy Boy where I sit reading, waiting for him. I sensed him. Something was wrong. ”Hi! How was your day?” “Not […]
Why Burning Is Good For Our Souls
I answered my cell. “Hey Mom! The barn’s burning tomorrow. We’ll be there at 5:45. Everything’s going down except the house which we’re doing later. Are you coming?” “Of course! You know I wouldn’t miss it!” Zach, our nearly 22 year-old volunteer fireman, was about as excited as his pyromaniac mother. My friend Nancy and […]
How Do We Rise Up When Life Cuts Us Down?
Ever felt cut down? Dried up? Bundled heavy? Tightly strung? Thrown in a heap? Left alone in some dark, dry place? I can relate. This past week the farmers rolled into the fields all around us, even ours. Make hay while the sun shines, the old adage goes. We take that literally around here. Horse […]
True Love Wins Over the Rainbow
I ripped the lettuces. Shredded them in my bare hands and dropped them into the empty bowl. Then I dressed their nakedness with virgin olive oil and fruit-infused vinegar. Sweet and bitter whisked together . . . Then I began the layering of tomatoes diced, radishes sliced, white cheddar cubed, parmesan grated, olives pitted. Oh, […]