Gaining a heart of wisdom
When we named our four boys, we were careful to discover and to ponder the meaning of the names we were considering before making a final choice. Then, we looked at each newborn and asked ourselves if the name fit and if its meaning would be a blessing to him throughout his life. Names matter. In… Continue reading Names Matter
I did not intend to have a dog in my home who is so tall that he can rest his chin on the dining room table. It was never my intention to take walks with one hundred and fifty pounds of dog on the other end of a leash, and I certainly did not plan to love that long-haired slobber… Continue reading Sit. Stay. Abide.
Going into a job interview, I used to worry about over-selling myself. At some point, I decided that I would rather lose out on a job opportunity than to suffer the indignity -- six months down the road -- of wondering if my boss was wishing she could find that stellar employee she had thought she was hiring. … Continue reading Intimacy 101
Another name has joined Father Tim and the Reverend John Ames in my directory of beloved fictional pastors. Rowdy Slater stands apart from the others (and from most real life pastors, I expect) in two important ways: 1. Neither Fr. Tim nor the Rev. Ames could look out over his congregation and say, "At one… Continue reading The Redemption of Rev. Rowdy
For years I celebrated Easter as if it were a stand-alone holiday, singing "Up from the Grave He Arose" without giving much thought to the horror of the Dying or the silence of the Dead. Providentially, my early efforts to incarnate and to enliven an invisible God in the hearts of four sweet boys found a way into the obtuse heart of… Continue reading One Weekend in History
Is there anything better than a book in the mail? The A to Z Guide to Bible Signs and Symbols landed in my mailbox last Saturday, and I was immediately drawn by its glossy weight. Everything about the book, particularly its colorful images, said "quality." Opening to the introduction, I learned that a symbol's job is… Continue reading A Week of Signs and Symbols
Glory Hunger by JR Vassar: A Book Review A favorite scene from one of my favorite movies is the moment when Anne Shirley learns that she has won the Avery Scholarship. Her fellow students pick her up, carrying her on their shoulders, and they laud her accomplishment with cheers! There's something supremely satisfying about that kind… Continue reading An Invitation to Die
The Beauty of Grace by Dawn Camp, ed. -- A Book Review Lovely, fragrant, fresh, inviting: the adjectives that bubble into my mind for The Beauty of Grace are the same descriptive terms that I would use for the bouquet of flowers pictured on the cover. Dawn Camp has found a way to slow down the internet… Continue reading Because You Can’t Underline on the Internet
You Have a Brain by Ben Carson, M.D. -- A Book Review Even if Ben Carson's mother had foreknown her son's future as a neurosurgeon, she could hardly have come up with a more fitting rhetorical question to challenge him throughout his childhood: "Do you have a brain?" Mrs. Carson never doubted the affirmative response… Continue reading T.H.I.N.K. B.I.G.
30 Events that Shaped the Church by Alton Gansky: A Book Review I do not envy Alton Gansky the job of narrowing two thousand years of history down to the thirty most significant events. In doing so, however, what he has created is an aerial view of history, a tool for harnessing the parade of names and dates,… Continue reading Everyone’s History
Living Our Days 