Pregnancy means all kinds of body changes and discomforts. Those nine months are usually not described as floating on a euphoric cloud of bliss. As one mom put it: “Life is tough enough without having someone kick you from the inside.” So, dear pregnant lady (insert name), you’ve got to keep your sense of humor with jokes like this one:...
Mt. of Olives—standing with my tour group, the sun hot on my back, I kept staring at the sight in front of me. Never would I have guessed that Jerusalem was only “down the hill” from here. I looked all around me. Somewhere on this hill, maybe the very spot I was standing, was where Jesus ascended to heaven! But...
“Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of compassion and the God of all comfort” (II Corinthians 1:3). How do you live in the midst of chaos, uncertainty, and loss? How will our brothers and sisters in Ukraine find comfort in their distress? How will we? God often uses our testimonies to encourage...
The world has so many problems that if Moses came down from Mount Sinai today, the two tablets he’d carry would be Prozac and Xanax! Our world is crazy, isn’t it? Think of all the disasters we’ve witnessed—tornadoes, hurricanes, floods, wildfires, overcrowded hospitals. Then there’s political and social upheaval, and economic uncertainties. So I just want to reassure you, if...
Jesus said to Peter, Unless I wash you, you have no part with me (John 13:8). Jill Biden disguised herself as a stewardess on a flight returning to Washington D.C, and then served the members of the media and her staff. No one recognized the First Lady until she removed her wig and with a huge grin announced, “April Fools!” ...
Dear Readers, This Alfred Lord Tennyson poem written in the eighteen hundreds seems strangely fitting for our day, especially the last five verses. You might like to know that Ring Out, Wild Bells is taken from Tennyson’s long elegy, In Memoriam A. H. H., and is the last in a cycle of 133 cantos. It is a tribute to his...
By mid November, several people had told me they had already decorated for Christmas. When I expressed surprise, one person said, “Christmas just makes me happy.” Can we blame people for wanting “happy” to come early? And we’d like everything that Christmas symbolizes to stay around too! I recently heard a new song, “Christmas Every Day,” that David Archuleta released...
Fall in eastern Germany meant fog blanketing rolling fields; savoring freshly dug potatoes roasted over a fire; and riding the horse-drawn wagon, decorated with festive tree, to bring in the last crop of wheat to the barn. On Thanksgiving Sunday, farmers brought yellow and red apples, pears, bright orange pumpkins, cabbages, onions, nuts, and bundled stalks of grain to decorate...
Listen: You are my hiding place and my shield; I hope in your word. NRSV (Psalm 119:114) Reflect: As a little girl, my secret hideout lay down an embankment next to the rural road where I lived. At the bottom, pussy willow trees hid me well as I sat next to a small stream that meandered through marshy vegetation. It...