For over a decade, our friends have run a summer Christian camp on an Indian reservation just to the east of Glacier National Park. A few days ago, Matt and I made the two-hour road trip through Glacier Park, to visit the camp. It’s a breathtaking property, with over 100 different kinds of wild flowers growing among the grasses, backed… Read More
How I Found My Greatest Freedom in Tying the Knot
I’ll begin with Beverly, and eventually you will see where I’m going with this. She is half Australian Shepherd, half Border Collie, and she just got her 12-week shots. My daughter has brought her new dog along, to stay with us for a week while her husband’s away, so we are tag-teaming the puppy thing. I heard you groan. Because… Read More
Can You Believe God Is A Good Father?
Today, I would like to tell you about my dad, and I can’t think of a better way for you to get to know him than by showing you a note he wrote me many years ago. Poems beginning in “Roses are red, violets are blue” were to my dad’s side of the family what a coat of arms is… Read More
Do You Feel Like Your Soul Is Sucking Air?
My three-ring notebook contained 14 songs, and I carried it with me last Friday and Saturday, to accompany vocalists for the high school district music festival. Then at church on Saturday night, I had to laugh at myself. Fourteen times that weekend, I had heard adjudicators preach good breathing techniques to my students, so when we started singing praise songs… Read More
What My Editor Taught Me about the Work of God
Put yourself in my place, as my hands hovered over the computer keyboard. I was writing my first contact to an editor. Do you know how long I spent checking my email to her? She wielded a red pen for a living, and I was terrified of spelling something wrong or of making a grammar error. But my experience with… Read More
Entry Level Instructions on How to Know God
I’m reminded, as I teach high school every day, that what seems very simple and easy to me can feel complex and impossible to my students. I wonder if the same is true in my conversations with you, as you try to know God. So this blog post is for the beginner. I want to talk to the person who… Read More
What You Need Is An Every Day Kind of Love
“I was thinking,” he said, after I turned out the light. “Maybe on Sunday we could hop in the car and go use that gift certificate to have lunch. A Valentine’s date.” “Are you sure?” I said. “You’ve been so tired. I think maybe you need a more restful day at home. And I don’t need Valentine’s Day to know… Read More
Have You Thought to Know God Like This?
I watched her grow up, but over the Christmas break I sat across from her and saw a young woman with a deep love for the Lord. God had spent months impressing something very special on her heart, and she was just about to leave her family for a few weeks to cross the pond. But it wasn’t a pleasure… Read More
Do You Use The Words of Joy?
Last night I posted a picture on Facebook of my new Dutch oven, so I could thank my mother-in-law for the wonderful Christmas gift. In the bottom of the pan I had onions, carrots, and celery being sauteed in oil, as a soup base. A friend commented on my lovely mirepoix, and I knew what she was talking because I… Read More
How to Take Heart When You’re Super Anxious
When our kids were little, I read Growing Kids God’s Way, by Gary and Anne Marie Ezzo, and learned an excellent practice for teaching my kids how to politely get my attention when I was talking with someone else. My child would come up to me and put his hand on my arm or leg. I would reach down and… Read More