It all happens in a flash. Our youngest turns 8 and counts the minutes until his friends arrive for backyard maniac birthday party. My eldest turns 21 and heads to Prague with his collegiate basketball team to inspire high school students to strive for an uplifted life. Then, of course, he’s taking the dozens of dollars he’ll have left to…
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Don’t Look Up! More than one war is waging above your head today. Yes, I am intrigued by the fierce battle between good and evil waging in the heavens for our hearts and souls. But God only knows who will win that one today. (wink) Right now I’m referring to the battle in Washington over controlling our digital screens. Our…
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Here are a few interesting dots to connect. Yesterday CNN covered loads about their own media industry. Wait, is that a circular reference? No matter. They featured a shouting panel of experts arguing whether or not we should vilify the writers of Glee who predictably leveraged the public debate of guns in schools to desperately elevate their ratings. An equal…
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Wow I have been a really bad blogger lately. Maybe that means I ‘m not really a blogger at all, because one cannot truly be called a blogger if one does not do the blog-things consistent with those bloggers who define good blogging. So now I have also proved that using the word blog in as many forms as possible…
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Not by accident and not by coincidence, our family encountered an extraordinary person this week. He is someone who dedicates a part of his life to living without a plan at all. But rather he joyfully steps out and intentionally responds to the opportunities God places before him to help others. On a given day, he grabs some cash and…
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The national weather service doesn’t give tornados human names. We talk of hurricanes and storms with modern names that allow us to personify them, and point somewhere specific when we want to remember and reflect. Tornadoes don’t get names. There’s little tracking, rarely any warning and certainly no time to discuss them on television before we face their wrath. Joplin…
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We’ve never doubted for a moment that our family was meant to make this move. Four years ago when we leaped out of our highly chaotic lives in Chicago to move to West Michigan to accept a wonderful position at a fine company, we knew in our hearts and minds it was excellent. It was time to change. In that…
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It seems like a tough season. Maybe because it’s January. Many people in my life are struggling with relationships in one way or another and [spoiler alert] women often talk about relationships. No matter how we carve it up, and try to control it, all of life is about relationships. (yes, with other people) It’s like the secret to physical…
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As I drifted off to sleep last night, my mind was spinning with the truth that we are charging ahead in a new year filled with new pathways and excitement …and we must choose. Every day, as always, we have to make choices about how to spend every minute when so many needs call for our attention. As we launch and…
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After a long break with three separate marathon gatherings of fabulous family, holiday traveling and welcoming guests here, we’re hobbling toward the [welcome] regimen of school and structured work. So what did we learn during this precious season? That we are a family of connectedness. For better or worse, Mac or PC, screens are a reality of us. Everyone has…
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The kids call her Beeka. My mother-in-law is an angel. As a child, she rode her horse “Pet” to the one-room schoolhouse in Wyoming. Both ways. They didn’t have indoor plumbing until, oh, high school. Then as a devoted newlywed in the 1950’s she rode confidently behind her pilot husband in their two-seater Piper Cub with a baby on her…
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One of the significant slivers of conditioning that I’ve had to wrestle as a shattered-and-redeemed woman, is many years of training that sin has tiers. Sort of like a small, medium and double-triple-XL spectrum of sin measurement. Unfortunately when I learned the beautiful gift of confession, it was apparently attached to a commensurate punishment, which of course, meant my 12-year-old…
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Be in the world Not of the world. But for heaven’s sake, be in the world. Let’s see. Politicians debate the role of their religion and their faith as it relates to their roles as governmental leaders. Bloggers pontificate (eloquently of course) about the hypocrisy of Christians celebrating Halloween and Santa. Most folks are okay with Thanksgiving being a kind-hearted…
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I grew up with Mary Poppins. Perhaps you think you did too, if you’re of a certain age. But I really mean I grew up with Mary Poppins. My magnificent mother, an English Lady of fine breeding, was in many ways the embodiment of all things Julie Andrews (to us). We had great cultural privilege as children born of an…
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This week’s lesson in Jack’s Kids-N-Action church group is about arguing. Wednesday, the magnificent youth leader rallied hundreds of kids to holler in unison, “Y’ALL STOP ARGUING!” each time he shouted “what are we gonna do?!” The crammed Castle Room at our church rattled with the chorus of shortpeople yelling, presumably, at their selves. It was adorable and loud. In…
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This is a short series called “I TRIED BUT…” I believe in honoring the authority of our leadership even if we don’t agree with their decisions. But now…. I object. He blows off critical meetings repeatedly People die and his office is untruthful His office is untruthful and people die His direction is harmful for the most in need of…
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I only left for 2 minutes. Our freshman volleyball player was ready to be fetched from practice at the high school around the corner. All was peaceful in the house, so I’d handle the retrieval. Dinner would be ready when I got back so we could serve and eat together before scattering again. I dash. Steve is entrenched in a…
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Watch my smoke! After a summer of constant, joyful, [hot, dry], adventurous activity, I’m sitting alone on Day One of School with …. rain! I wouldn’t have thought to ask for it, but here it is. The buzzing frenzy of summer – sports camps, weekends Up North, city outings, and even the pressure of seizing the moment — is for…
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Summertime Afternoon. Jack and his pal Eden disappear into the game room downstairs and things get dangerously quiet. But at this moment, I’m so far behind in writing and work that I irresponsibly convince myself that they’re having fun and all is good. Carpe 5 minutes. With no worries about markers on walls or pokey-sharp objects, I keep working. More…
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They broke into the iconic harmony of Carry On My Wayward Son, and the nostalgia-hungry crowd stood to their feet. Of all the 70’s bands touring the world right now, presumably because they are managing some equation of “need” and “want”, we find ourselves at the Kansas concert. Really? Kansas? Eldest sister saw Aerosmith in Detroit and OH! how I would have…