Just then his disciples returned and were surprised to find him talking with a woman. But no one asked, “What do you want?” or “Why are you talking with her?” Then, leaving her water jar, the woman went back to the town and said to the people, “Come, see a man who told me everything I ever did. Could this be the Messiah?” They came out of the town ...
When a topic pops up continually in conversation or often catches my attention online, I wonder if it’s the Holy Spirit nudging me to write about it for others who are in the same place. Many of my friends and I are parenting teens, with fewer years of children living in our homes ahead of us than behind. We’re looking closely at how we parented ...
Sundays were rarely for sleeping in, except maybe on vacation. Blessings preceded mealtime. Bedtime prayers, a nightly ritual. Our consistent church attendance wasn’t based on legalism; it was simply the rhythm of our lives. Our faith practices were as natural as breathing, second nature, the way things were. If you were raised in the church, can ...
I was standing in line at the grocery store, looking at the prices of products being scanned by the cashier. As I usually like doing, I noticed who was behind me, an elderly man, and gave him a smile. He took it as an invitation to share something on his mind. “Did you hear? The coronavirus has been reported in our local hospital,” he ...
Recently I watched the movie Inside Out with my family for a movie night. Popcorn in hand, blankets cozied up, and tissues at the ready for me because this movie hits me right in the feels. Have you seen it? It's a darling animated film about emotions and feelings, and it is so full of beauty and insight and nostalgia that I just sit with tears in ...
I enjoy my coffee without cream, without sugar, and most importantly, without caffeine. That’s because if I consume caffeine, I’m doomed to lie awake in bed until the early morning hours, as alert as an unblinking baby doll. Decaf is essential. Though it’s a simple pleasure, the comfort of a quiet cup of coffee has become one of the highlights ...
Everywhere I look is a mess. I can’t look at my house because it is falling off a cliff. Dishes are mounted up to my chin, and laundry, like lava, is overflowing onto all the floors. I can’t look inward because nothing is organized. My sadness is mixing with my anger, and my anxiety is taunting my peace. I am easily triggered. Happiness can only be ...
A couple years ago, on my twentieth wedding anniversary, I tried to keep breathing. I inherited my mother’s brown eyes, my father’s broad, flat feet, and from both of them, poor lungs. Asthma. I gather my lips around my inhaler, like a scuba diver on dry land, inhaling two puffs of albuterol while I hold in the medicine that makes my world ...
I lift my eyes toward the mountains. Where will my help come from? My help comes from the Lord, the Maker of heaven and earth. He will not allow your foot to slip; your Protector will not slumber. Indeed, the Protector of Israel does not slumber or sleep. The Lord protects you; the Lord is a shelter right by your side. The sun will not ...
I saw the sign taped to the back of her car. I was driving my hour commute to work, heading from my apartment in the suburbs along the congested concrete highway toward the big city where the skyline is dense and the famous CN Tower stretches to the sky. The sign was taped to her rear window on lined school paper. In thick black letters it ...
