“So it is with you. Unless you speak intelligible words with your tongue, how will anyone know what you are saying? You will just be speaking into the air.” 1 Corinthians 14:9 In one of my writer father’s many files of newspaper clippings, I found a tattered copy of this anonymous poem entitled The English …
“May the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be pleasing in your sight, LORD, my Rock and my Redeemer.” Psalm 19:14 Not long ago, I got this crazy urge to write a fictional story about a general’s daughter in 10th-century Britannia who, as her father’s only …
“Bind them on your fingers; write them on the tablet of your heart.” Proverbs 7:3 You know that feeling where you want to write something but there are too many thoughts swirling in your mind to find a starting point and then your brain goes completely blank and all you …
“But as for you, continue in what you have learned and have become convinced of, because you know those from whom you learned it” 2 Timothy 3:14 On the wall above my desk hangs a picture that delights me. It was painted by Dorothy Dowler, a prolific artist, musician and …
“For the Spirit God gave us does not make us timid, but gives us power, love and self-discipline.” 1 Tim. 1:7 When I was 13 years old, a girl from a poor family in our church got married. Her parents couldn’t afford a reception, so the staff wives decided to …
“If it is possible, as far as it depends on you, live at peace with everyone.” Romans 12:18 I was told that Christians are cowards. They have created an “eternal life” mythology because they fear the finality of death. The atheist who confronted me with this issue literally hated believers …
“Let the redeemed of the LORD tell their story…” Psalm 107:2a When my dad was a young pastor in the 1950s, he and Mom accepted another couple’s invitation for a fishing trip. The four of them spent a day at the lake on a borrowed houseboat. As self-proclaimed angling experts, …
“I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made…” Psalm 139:14 This morning, a link in my phone’s newsfeed opened an article about home decorating mistakes. I scanned the list out of curiosity. Predictable stuff – too many throw pillows, wrong color choices, outdated trends, unnecessary bric-a-brac, etc., etc. …
I’m learning this about grief – you don’t get over it. You absorb it into yourself. Grief becomes a fact of your life, an integral part of your story. Instead of moving past it, you learn to co-exist with it as a new state of normalcy. To do that, it …
It’s Friday, ending the first week of a new semester. Our district started the school year with 30 faculty and staff members out, having either tested positive for Covid-19 or in quarantine for direct exposure to it. But I don’t want to talk about it. My mind is weary of …
