Spend as much time around toddlers as I have and you’ll eventually find yourself facing a gizmo called the shape sorter. Our family owned one and so does every church nursery in which I’ve volunteered. While this toy has evolved over the years, the one with which I’m most familiar comes from the Tupperware company. …
When I swam in high school, Mark Spitz was every swimmer’s hero! An Olympic champion, he set world records and won gold medals in seven events at the 1972 Munich Olympics. A stickler for proper form, my coach showed us filmstrips of Mark Spitz swimming, demonstrating proper technique and motivating us. Afterward, “Coach” surprised us by …
For most of my life, I felt flawed. Whether from seeing other kids easily achieve things I struggled with, or through painful awareness of all my mistakes, I knew I needed something. Usually I thought that meant food! A chubby girl riddled with guilt, eventually I reasoned that more knowledge was the key to fixing myself. …
(This was written by Chaplain John Roe from the King Veteran’s Home in Wisconsin where my dad lives. I asked his permission to share, and edited slightly for succinctness.) Adjusting to new realities is a difficult task for many people. I define the term new reality as, “The way life is right now, whether you like …
Before America became a nation, a group of British citizens crossed the sea to start a new life here. As time passed and the settlers’ numbers grew, British homeland authorities considered the colonies a great source of tax revenue. This resulted in protests over taxation without representation and a host of other objections, culminating in …
Mark 1:1-3 The beginning of the gospel of Jesus Christ, the Son of God. As it is written in Isaiah the prophet, “Behold, I send my messenger. . . who will prepare Your way; the voice of one crying in the wilderness, ‘Make ready the way of the Lord, Make His paths straight.’” This quotation from Isaiah …
I grew up a “Navy brat.” Born at the Naval Academy where my dad served as a chaplain, I lived on both coasts and the Gulf of Mexico growing up. Our house decor included seashell soap dishes, paintings of ships at sea, and an autographed photo of Admiral Chester Nimitz (whom I called “Grandpa Nimitz”) signing …
A favorite joke of mine says, “There are three types of people in the world: those who can count and those who can’t”. But Paul verifies in I Corinthians that there actually are three types of people in the world, and it’s no laughing matter! Most people are what Paul refers to as natural or …
I’m intrigued by the way the application of various shades of color conceals flaws, whether makeup on a face, paint on a wall, or stain on wood. Highlighting and creating beauty magically diverts one’s attention from any imperfections. I experienced a magnificent example of this one summer. We visited an outdoor festival downtown, featuring gifted artists …
In the past year we’ve had two floods in our basement. The first affected the ceiling, part of an outer wall, and a good-sized area of parquet flooring. The second concentrated itself around our water heater, an area behind a large storage closet, and the basement bathroom floor. Rather than wallowing in self-pity after these …
