Picture it..Philadelphia: 2026. A middle-aged woman and her family sit immobilized in their truck, swarmed on all sides by an undulating sea of yellow. Unable to progress even an inch, frustrated and effectively paralyzed, there seems no way forward until the woman bravely flings open the door, jumps headlong into the surge and puts on…
Wide Open
Our dog Murphy hates to be left alone. Since I am primarily the one home with the animals throughout the day, I’ve become accustomed to hearing ever-present, rhythmic clickety-clack of little doggy feet following close behind. Even if I’m just going inside to refill my coffee cup, there he will be. He’s not taking any…
Gospel Truth
Truth untethered to reality is not true. Facts trump feelings. And the truth is, I can’t hide my feelings when people declare that their feelings, are in fact, truth. Because if their declarations are contrary to what God has said, they are, by definition, in the words of Dwight Schrute, “False!” But truth does exist,…
Grandma Hobbies
POV: You order and subsequently return 10 shirts to Amazon because nothing “looks right.” It is definitely, completely, unrelated to the “eat more, move less” program you’ve been on the past year or so. Also, you may or may not have arthritis in your right knee because hey, nothing says “Welcome to your upper forties!”…
What Are You Building?
I heard a quote recently from Krista Bontrager that caught my attention: “Christianity will survive without America, but America won’t survive without Christianity. I think she’s one thousand percent correct. Last week I had the privilege of teaching in our Tuesday morning Bible study at church. We are going through the Psalms of Ascent, historically…
Always Something
I pause at the threshold, the open doors of the thatch-roofed cabana giving way to an enthralling expanse of turquoise water and brilliant blue sky. My sheer cotton cover-up ruffles pleasantly as a sweet, paradise-scented breeze passes by. After two solid minutes of just breathing it in, I make my way, barefoot, across pale sand…
Making Life Beautiful
It’s a quiet, perfect morning here on the screened-in porch. Or, it was until someone started vacuuming their driveway. I don’t know if that’s what they’re doing but it sounds like an industrial Dust Buster. It’s fine. I wasn’t enjoying the birdsong or anything. And now he’s apparently clapping giant erasers together. Sigh. The day…
Finding a Good Church
Church hunting in 2023 has been quite the eye-opening endeavor. Let me start by saying there is no such thing as a perfect church, because churches are made up of imperfect people! Additionally, we all have our preferences: different people prefer different music, preaching styles, location, church size, etc. The problem, we discovered while scouring…
Finding Your Happy Place
They say if you look back at what you used to love as a kid, you’ll find what you were meant to do as an adult. For example, if you were intrigued by how things were put together, so much so that you ripped your toys apart just for the fun of reassembling them, you…
And Just Like That…
Our church is closing. The news came seemingly out of nowhere. I love our church. We’ve grown close with the other families. I looked forward to seeing our elementary and preschool kids grow into teens and adulthood together. It intrigued me to wonder what they would be like as they matured and found their niche…
Living Well 