A Gaggle of Geese and a Purple Heart
Greater love has no one than this, that one lay down his life for his friends (John 15:13–NIV). Walking Lake Junaluska the other day, I saw again the family of geese that I’d witnessed some time ago–the goslings more grown up, but not yet fully grown….
When God Writes the Story
There is a time for everything, and a season for every activity under heaven… [God] has made everything beautiful in its time. He has also set eternity in the hearts of men; yet they cannot fathom what God has done from beginning to end (Ecclesiastes 3:1, 11–NIV). I…
If These Walls… (Part 3)
My [children] will abide in peaceful habitation, in secure dwellings, and in quiet resting places (Isaiah 32:18–ESV). If these old walls, If these old walls could speak Of things that they remember well, Stories and faces dearly held, A couple in love Livin’ week to week Rooms…
If These Walls… (Part 2)
Come, see the glorious works of the LORD… Be still and know that I am God (Psalms 46:8a; 10a — NLT). We sat on the old front porch, swinging like girls on the porch swing. The men were men–surveying the property, walking its boundary lines….
If These Walls… (Part 1)
Through wisdom a house is built, and by understanding it is established; by knowledge the rooms are filled with all precious and pleasant riches (Proverbs 24:3, 4–NKJV). If these old walls… If these old walls could speak Of things that they remember well– Stories and faced dearly held; A…
God In A Haiku
I must go begging For water… morning glories Have captured my well. (Chiyo) The first haiku I ever remember reading was in my poetry volume of Childcraft — The How and Why Library. When I read it, I had no idea that a haiku is…
Mother’s Day, May 12th and ‘Evan Almighty’ — Oh My!
Call to Me and I will answer you and tell you great and incomprehensible things you do not know (Jeremiah 33:3 — Holman Bible). Mother’s Day fell on May 12th in 1996, just as it did this year. I know this because that was the year…
Birthmother — Such a Beautiful Name
You have turned my mourning into dancing; you have removed my sackcloth and clothed me with joy… (Psalm 30:11). Tomorrow, many women will celebrate how — through the arrival of a child, that glorious gain that’s both beautifully life-changing and heart-enlarging (and yes, sometimes excruciatingly heart-wrenching) — a new…
Donnie Harrison — Another Sort of Hero
Our Father in heaven… (Matthew 6:9a — ESV). This morning, I tucked into Ian’s keepsake box several newspaper articles and the memorial bulletin from his heroic friend Riley Howell‘s funeral. As I closed the lid, I thought, The loss of a friend is no small thing. I…
Jesus-Joy for Breakfast
May my Lord never let me grow cold in my longing to be a cup in His hand for the quenching of His own royal thirst. ~~ Oswald Chambers A simple thing — a tray of toast. Coffee with cream. Jam and sliced apples. A…