On Charley and Jan rsquo s fiftieth wedding anniversary they shared breakfast at a caf eacute with their son Jon That day the restaurant was understaffed with just a manager cook and one teenage girl who was working as hostess waitress and busser As they finished their breakfast Charley turned to his wife and son and said ldquo Do you have anything important going on in the next few hours rdquo They didn rsquo t So with permission from the manager Charley and Jan began washing dishes in the back of the restaurant while Jon started clearing the cluttered tables [... more]

When Elaine was diagnosed with advanced cancer she and her husband Chuck knew it wouldn rsquo t be long until she rsquo d be with Jesus Both of them treasured the promise of Psalm that God would be with them as they journeyed through the deepest and most difficult valley of their fifty-four years together They took hope in the fact that Elaine was ready to meet Jesus having placed her faith in Him decades before At his wife rsquo s memorial service Chuck shared that he was still traveling ldquo through the valley of the shadow of death rdquo [... more]

I don rsquo t remember a time when my mom Dorothy was in good health For many years as a brittle diabetic her blood sugar was wildly erratic Complications developed and her damaged kidneys necessitated permanent dialysis Neuropathy and broken bones resulted in the use of a wheelchair Her eyesight began to regress toward blindness But as her body failed her Mom rsquo s prayer life grew more vigorous She spent hours praying for others to know and experience the love of God Precious words of Scripture grew sweeter to her Before her eyesight faded she wrote a letter to [... more]

Each summer when I was a child I would travel two hundred miles to enjoy a week with my grandparents I wasn rsquo t aware until later how much wisdom I soaked up from those two people I loved Their life experiences and walk with God had given them perspectives that my young mind couldn rsquo t yet imagine Conversations with them about the faithfulness of God assured me that God is trustworthy and fulfills every promise He makes Mary the mother of Jesus was a teenager when an angel visited her The incredible news brought by Gabriel must have [... more]

If you like peace and quiet there rsquo s a room in Minneapolis Minnesota that you rsquo ll love It absorbs percent of all sound The world-famous anechoic echo-free chamber of the Orfield Laboratories has been called the ldquo quietest place on earth rdquo People who want to experience this soundless space are required to sit down to avoid getting disoriented by the lack of noise and no one has ever been able to spend more than forty-five minutes in the room Few of us need that much silence Yet we do sometimes long for a little quiet in a [... more]

When Jeff was fourteen his mom took him to see a famous singer Like many musicians of his era B J Thomas had gotten caught up in a self-destructive lifestyle while on music tours But that was before he and his wife were introduced to Jesus Their lives were radically changed when they became believers in Christ On the night of the concert the singer began to entertain the enthusiastic crowd But after performing a few of his well-known songs one guy yelled out from the audience ldquo Hey sing one for Jesus rdquo Without any hesitation B J responded [... more]

When I was a kid a decommissioned World War II tank was put on display in a park near my home Multiple signs warned of the danger of climbing on the vehicle but a couple of my friends immediately scrambled up Some of us were a bit reluctant but eventually we did the same One boy refused pointing to the posted signs Another jumped down quickly as an adult approached The temptation to have fun outweighed our desire to follow rules There rsquo s a heart of childish rebellion lurking within all of us We don rsquo t like being [... more]

In the last few days of my dad rsquo s life one of the nurses dropped by his room and asked me if she could give him a shave As Rachel gently pulled the razor across his face she explained ldquo Older men of his generation like to have a neat shave every day rdquo Rachel had seen a need and acted on her instinct to show kindness dignity and respect to someone The tender care she provided reminded me of my friend Julie who still paints her elderly mother rsquo s nails because it rsquo s important to her [... more]

I was very young when I peered through a hospital nursery window and saw a newborn for the first time In my ignorance I was dismayed to see a tiny wrinkly child with a hairless cone-shaped head The baby rsquo s mother standing near us however couldn rsquo t stop asking everyone ldquo Isn rsquo t he gorgeous rdquo I was reminded of that moment when I saw a video of a young dad tenderly singing the song ldquo You Are So Beautiful rdquo to his baby girl To her enraptured daddy mdash the little girl was the most beautiful [... more]

When I saw the massive volume of Leo Tolstoy rsquo s War and Peace on my friend rsquo s bookshelf I confessed ldquo I rsquo ve never actually made it all the way through that rdquo ldquo Well rdquo Marty chuckled ldquo When I retired from teaching I got it as a gift from a friend who told me lsquo Now you rsquo ll finally have time to read it rsquo rdquo The first eight verses of Ecclesiastes state a familiar natural rhythm of the activities of life with some arbitrary choices No matter what stage of life we find [... more]

Oliver Cromwell known as the ldquo Protector of England rdquo was a military commander in the seventeenth century It was common practice during those days for people of importance to have their portraits painted And it wasn rsquo t unusual for an artist to avoid depicting the less attractive aspects of a person rsquo s face Cromwell however wanted nothing to do with a likeness that would flatter him He cautioned the artist ldquo You must paint me just as I am mdash warts and all mdash or I won rsquo t pay you rdquo nbsp Apparently the artist complied [... more]

When asked how he became a journalist a man shared the story of his mother rsquo s dedication to his pursuit of education While traveling on the subway each day she collected newspapers left behind on seats and gave them to him While he especially enjoyed reading about sports the papers also introduced him to knowledge about the world which ultimately opened his mind to a vast range of interests nbsp Children are wired with natural curiosity and a love for learning so introducing them to the Scriptures at an early age is of great value They become intrigued by [... more]

Decorative blue and white ceramic tiles commonly found in Dutch households were originally made in the city of Delft They often depict familiar scenes of the Netherlands beautiful landscapes ubiquitous windmills and people working and playing In the nineteenth century Charles Dickens wrote in his book A Christmas Carol how these tiles were used to illustrate the Scriptures He described an old fireplace built by a Dutchman paved with these quaint Delft tiles ldquo There were Cains and Abels Pharaohs rsquo daughters Queens of Sheba and Apostles putting off to sea rdquo Many households used these tiles as a teaching [... more]

When I was a teenager my mom painted a mural on our living room wall which stayed there for several years It showed an ancient Greek scene of a ruined temple with white columns lying on their sides a crumbling fountain and a broken statue As I looked at the Hellenistic architecture that had once held great beauty I tried to imagine what had destroyed it I was curious especially when I began studying about the tragedy of once great and thriving civilizations that had decayed and crumbled from within The sinful depravity and wanton destruction we see around us [... more]

My family remembers my Grandpa Dierking as a man of strong faith and prayer But it wasn rsquo t always so My aunt recalls the first time her father announced to the family ldquo We rsquo re going to start giving thanks to God before we eat rdquo His first prayer was far from eloquent but Grandpa continued the practice of prayer for the next fifty years praying often throughout each day When he died my husband gave my grandmother a ldquo praying hands rdquo plant saying ldquo Grandpa was a man of prayer rdquo His decision to follow God [... more]

As I drove home after lunch with my best friend I thanked God out loud for her She knows me and loves me in spite of things I don rsquo t love about myself She rsquo s one of a small circle of people who accept me as I am mdash my quirks habits and screw-ups Still there are parts of my story I resist sharing even with her and others that I love mdash times where I rsquo ve clearly not been the hero times I rsquo ve been judgmental or unkind or unloving But God does know my [... more]

When Marcia rsquo s out in public she always tries to smile at others It rsquo s her way of reaching out to people who might need to see a friendly face Most of the time she gets a genuine smile in return But during a time when Marcia was mandated to wear a facemask she realized that people could no longer see her mouth thus no one could see her smile It rsquo s sad she thought but I rsquo m not going to stop Maybe they rsquo ll see in my eyes that I rsquo m smiling There [... more]

Caden a young man of almost eighteen was anticipating attending his first choice of a college on an academic scholarship He was involved in a campus ministry in high school and looked forward to participating in a similar ministry in the new environment He rsquo d saved money from his part-time job and also had an excellent lead on a new job He rsquo d established some great goals and everything was coming together exactly on schedule And then in the spring of a global health crisis changed everything The school let Caden know that his first semester would probably [... more]

A woman complained to her pastor that she rsquo d noticed a lot of repetition in his sermons ldquo Why do you do that rdquo she queried The preacher replied ldquo People forget rdquo There are lots of reasons we forget mdash the passage of time growing older or just being too busy We forget passwords names of people we rsquo ve known for years or even where we parked our car My husband says ldquo There rsquo s only so much I can fit in my brain I have to delete something before I can remember something new rdquo [... more]

Each night as young Caleb closed his eyes he felt the darkness envelop him The silence of his room was regularly suspended by the creaking of the wooden house in Costa Rica Then the bats in the attic became more active His mother had put a nightlight in his room but the young boy still feared the dark One night Caleb rsquo s dad posted a Bible verse on the footboard of his bed It read ldquo Be strong and courageous Do not be afraid for the Lord your God will be with you rdquo Joshua Caleb began to read [... more]

Living near cattle ranches as he did humorist Michael Yaconelli noticed how cows were prone to wander while grazing A cow would keep moving always looking for the fabled ldquo greener pastures rdquo Near the edge of the property the cow might discover some cool fresh grass under a shade tree Just beyond a broken-down part of the fence was a tasty clump of foliage Then the cow might push far beyond the fence and out to the road It had slowly ldquo nibbled rdquo its way into being lost Cows aren rsquo t alone in their roaming problem It [... more]

ldquo Your father is actively dying rdquo said the hospice nurse ldquo Actively dying rdquo refers to the final phase of the dying process and was a new term to me one that felt strangely like traveling down a lonely one-way street nbsp On my dad rsquo s last day not knowing if he could still hear us my sister and I sat by his bed We kissed the top of his beautiful bald head We whispered God rsquo s promises to him We sang ldquo Great Is Thy Faithfulness rdquo and quoted the rd Psalm We told him we [... more]