I was 12 years old and had talked my older brother into taking me with him to a drive-in movie. I felt so grown up hanging out with him and his friends. When I found out that one of them had smuggled a bottle of cheap wine into the drive-in, I even talked my way into...
Beep! Beep! Beep! Beep! I sat up groggily as my alarm went off. The bedroom was still dark and I fumbled for the alarm clock and switched it off. My body and mind just weren’t ready to get up yet. I groaned, laid back down, put my head on my pillow, and closed my...
It was the first day of 4-H camp. I was 10 years old and in the middle of a fist fight with another boy my age. I can no longer remember what the fight was even about, but I do remember that it wasn’t going very well for me. I was fortunate then when the camp...
"but those who hope in the LORD will renew their strength. They will soar on wings like eagles; they will run and not grow weary, they will walk and not be faint." (Isaiah 40:31) When my kids were young we bought them two pet cockatiels. These beautiful, white birds...
"Rejoice always, pray without ceasing, in everything give thanks; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you." (1 Thess 5:16-18) As a boy I learned so much growing up the way I did. We didn't have very much, yet we were rich in all that mattered. My Mom, Dad,...
I woke up in the middle of the night with a start. My aging and aching back had jolted me awake with a sharp pain. I got up and stretched in the dark until it eased, laid back down again and shut my eyes. I couldn’t go back to sleep, though. Finally, I gave up and...
I was blowing the dust off of some of my Grandma’s old photo albums the other day and looking at pictures of that little boy I used to be. One in particular caught my eye. I was smiling, sitting in a corner chair by an old bookcase, hugging my best friend in the whole...
It was over 20 years ago. I was holding my baby son in my arms while my two other children played under a big tree in the front yard of an old house. The house was also a local food bank and I was watching my children while my wife went in. I had been laid off work...
"What was the most delicious meal you ever had?" That was the question in an online survey that popped up on my screen the other day. I moved my mouse over and clicked out of the survey, but the question stayed with me. As I thought about it only one answer came to my...
"Jesus said to him, '"You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind." This is the first and great commandment. And the second is like it: "You shall love your neighbor as yourself." On these two commandments hang all...