• Our Kids, Our Family

    This Year’s Story

    Every Thanksgiving has story, right? And sort of a character all it’s own. Thanksgiving 2011 did not let us down.  My brother Mike and his wife Christine hosted their first Thanksgiving in their wonderful home; and with the size of our family, the commitment is daunting.  It starts with a tentative [timid] email to 40 people, presenting the idea of…

  • The Story

    Like Dew for Life

    Pastor Jim Cymbala uses a wonderful metaphor of the Holy Spirit of God settling on us like dew settles on the earth during those secret hours when nighttime brings it’s calm and cool. God’s Holy Spirit, coats us with a gentle presence, almost invisible to the eye, but nourishing and surprising.  It happens while we sleep and then first light…

  • Our Kids, Our Family,  The Mystery of Marriage

    Power Tools

    Something like six months ago I had a BUNIONECTOMY. It’s hard to decide which word is more ugly: bunion,  or its –ectomy. The kind and slightly-too-young surgeon used standard issue hardware to hold my metatarsal in its new place; redesigned to be straighter and more natural. Neat.  Power tools. (This makes my husband very happy and of the mind that…

  • Living Vertically,  Serving, Leading,  The Mystery of Marriage,  The Story

    Living Vertically

    Every day we get another chance to adjust our settings; turn the dials of our vision, our focus, our intention, our daily starting point. When we are overly focused (read: obsessed) on the person-to-person interactions, we are choosing to live horizontally. This often results in serious side-effects: frustrations, worries, expectations and, on good days certainly, even delightful joy and thrilling…

  • Living Vertically,  The Story

    Scandalous

    I got caught shoplifting when I was 18 years old. I know, I know.  REALLY late-bloomer.  The security guard’s cold hand clenched my left wrist as I attempted to leave the store without paying for the pair of jeans that hid in my bag.  The crime took place in a Hudson’s department store in 1980 in a middle-class suburb of…

  • Living Vertically,  Serving, Leading

    Always, constant, the one thing that never changes…

    Lots of folks have written smart expository about the greatest change agent in history. Jesus of Nazareth was the original agent of change.  God’s in the business of change.   Wait.  God’s in the BUSINESS of change.  Or better still:  God’s in the CHANGE business. For commercial and organizational success, we write wonderful books about Switching, Changing, and getting Good to…