The Night Before Christmas–Part 2
“To share a table with someone is to share everything” (Paul Krueger, Steel Crow Saga). The menu was determined. The food purchased, then prepared. What was unplanned, unexpected, were the added guests. They came, shaken and weary, to our back door on Christmas Eve. But like…
The Night Before Christmas–Part I
The longer I live, the smaller this world seems. This world into which a Baby was born–where He grew to be a Man, was condemned and killed before coming back alive to again breathe life into the dark, sin-stained void. The same formless void into…
A Portion of Linda’s Story–A Friend’s Perspective
“There is no agony like bearing an untold story inside of you.” ~~attributed to Maya Angelou, who quoted Zora Neale Hurston in her 1942 published work Dust Tracks on the Road. I think I’ve lost count of the times my friend Linda said, “Perhaps you could…
Letting the Light In
The other day, my girl and I drove to school in gray chill. My heart, too, felt the grip of cold. I turned up Pandora–choosing Hillsong worship, hoping the music would thaw my sullen spirit. I grappled with a grumbling attitude–pointed out several of Allie’s…
Let’s Ask–M.A.S.K.?
“For you were called to freedom, brothers [and sisters]. Only do not use your freedom as an opportunity for the flesh, but through love serve one another” (Galatians 5:3). For Christmas, we bought each of our children and their significant others masks we thought fit…
2020-Hindsight for Hope in the New Year
Twenty-twenty Hindsight–(n.) seeing clearly, with full understanding, a situation or event only after it has happened. 2020–a really, really hard year; a thing of the past. One can only have twenty-twenty hindsight once he or she has stepped into a new situation. Like stepping over the…
A Christmas Love Letter to Devon Mara-Leigh
On this final week of Advent, I’m sharing from the depths of a mother’s LOVE–which remains, even all these years later, a mystery to me. One of my life’s greatest teachers was a baby who I held only hours, who lived only weeks. Still, her…
Seth Cook–Joyous Giant
On this third week of Advent, what better time to share some good news that brings great joy? Introducing our friend Seth who–though only 3 feet tall and a mere 25 pounds–was a JOY-GIANT! (Please read to the end to discover a link where you,…
O Come! O Come!
Throughout the Advent season, I’m reflecting on some of those whom I’ve been blessed to know who serve as reminders–both in their living, as well as in their dying–of Jesus’ purpose for coming to earth so long ago. (Last week’s was about my dear friend…
Bethany–Missionary in Birkenstocks
She was most at home in bibs and Birkenstocks. Maybe that’s one reason I felt so kindred to Bethany. Like half a dozen others, Bethany Enloe would enter my room on Thursday afternoons–shake off the dust of an 8th grade school day before kicking off…