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, […]
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 […]
Dog Gone [When You’re Lost and Need to Know You’re Sought After Still]
She flew out the door with her friend at dusk on Friday night before Christmas. They had places to go, things to do. Two hours later, I began to worry. Darkness had enveloped the farm but they hadn’t come home. No sign of them. I whistled and called. Nothing. A silent night. I could feel […]
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 […]
For the Joy Set Before Us
Joy to the world! The LORD has come! Let Earth receive her King! JOY? Fact is, some are sad right now. Like the loved ones of the twelve mowed down by ISIS in the Christmas market on Monday in Germany. While we’re singing peace on Earth, some are creating chaos and spreading terror and grief. […]
The Presence of Peace in the Midst of Grief
The second week of Advent, we light that second candle. The peace candle. Peace. I want that flame to touch every wicked thing around the world this Christmas. I want peace on earth and goodwill to spread towards all. This is what we sing this season, isn’t it? Peace? Goodwill? And yet, Aleppo’s without water […]
To Have and Hold Hope
“How can you sit and listen to people in pain all day long?” People often asked me this question when I worked as a therapist. Truth is, I viewed my job as a privilege to sit face-to-face with people in great inner pain, holding hope for them when they could not hold hope for themselves. […]
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 […]
On the Edge, In a Wilderness
I’m flying far away Friday. Off to Alaska to an island surrounded by ocean teeming with fin whales and sea lions, salmon and otters. Flying off to write and to learn to write better. Flying off to take a breaths under expansive sky, to visit dear friends, to meet and make new friends. Flying off […]
If You Need Some Love To Set You Free
I hired a prisoner yesterday. Well, actually, a former prisoner. Just out of the slammer. Spent two years behind bars and that wasn’t his first stint—in prison, that is. $150 to his name. Rent due September 1. No job yet but he’s hunting hard. Anyone want to hire a prisoner set free? Yeah, he’s made […]
Simply Grateful
We went to our “happy place”, as our youngest son calls it, for a family vacation from Saturday until Wednesday. Door County is the “thumb” of Wisconsin and what some refer to as “the Cape Cod of the Midwest”—a peninsula that juts out separating the waters of Green Bay and Lake Michigan. Highway 42 meanders […]