the right thing
Gjyste Vjerdha was busy working her nightly, graveyard-shift cleaning job at a restaurant with her 22-year-old son, Gentjan. As she tidied up a restroom, Gjyste found some women’s rings worth thousands of dollars. The thought of keeping the treasures might have crossed her mind, but she chose to do the right thing and take the jewelry to her manager. Later…
upside down
My friend’s sister is due to give birth, and no one is happy about it. Her baby has Trisomy 18, a fatal disease that will likely claim the infant just minutes after she is born. It seems fiendishly upside down that the baby is alive as long as she remains within her mother, but the moment she is born she…
too much
The other day I was putting air in my car’s tires. The small wording on the side of the tires warned me, “Maximum pressure: 35 psi.”
I’m no mechanic, but this is good information to know. I’ve been told that too much air in a tire will negatively affect braking, cornering, and overall stability. Less of the tire touches the…
going forward
The December holidays are the longest in Kenya’s school calendar, and with excited children running and hollering up and down helter-skelter, it can sometimes feel like a never-ending drag. And so it was amidst such turmoil that I tugged my eight year old daughter away from her play and proposed that it would be good to have a glance at…
when God ignores
Michael felt as if his prayers were simply bouncing off the ceiling. He couldn’t understand God’s silence. Day after day he pleaded with Him to deal with the injustice in his workplace. But evil persisted, and God seemed absent.
Can you identify with Michael? Habakkuk could. He lived during the final dark days of Judah—just before the captivity of her…
December 27, 2010
What's one spiritual discipline you plan to work on in 2011? Why?
winning over worry
In the last year, my family has had much to worry about. My wife wasn’t called back to her full-time teaching position (we counted on her income to help cover household expenses), my son was having recurring chest pain that we thought was due to an enlarged heart, our insurance was running out and an alternative plan was going to…
presence and protection
A pastor gathered his wife and children together for a time of prayer, just prior to his departure for an overseas missions trip. He prayed, “Dear Lord, please protect my wife and the children while I’m gone.” When he finished, his wife asked him: “Who do you think protects us while you’re here?”
Good question! Sometimes we take God’s protection…
a different Christmas
With gifts wrapped and under the tree, Christmas Eve came to a close. God’s goodness had been evident, but this year was different. Unfolding blankets and sheets, my husband and I created beds of the two couches in our family room. My husband’s parents, who live in town, were using our bedroom upstairs. Three months earlier, their oldest son—and only…
Christmas—all about God's love
It was really no pretense,
that two thousand years ago,
out of God’s love so immense,
He sent us the Son we know.
Above all else, beyond each Christmas,
God’s best gift of love is Christ Jesus,
outclassing myrrh, frankincense, and gold,
and anything else we may behold.
Born in a manger, greeted by strangers,
was “Immanuel”—which means “God with us”;…
watching
My 7-year-old son, Wyatt, loves chess. I first taught him to play on the chessboard in our local coffee shop, and last Christmas he asked for his own set to enjoy at home. Recently, we were playing after dinner, and Wyatt became infatuated with the knight—the piece that moves two squares, then one more square (like an “L”). His strategy…
forgetting faces
In 2004, a woman named Claire contracted viral encephalitis. After treatment for her illness at a local hospital, she returned home. But her memory had been dramatically affected. Claire developed a condition known as prosopagnosia—the inability to recognize faces. After several years of effort, she can finally pick out her husband’s countenance in a crowd, but she still can’t point…
compassionate anger
Some things make me angry. Newspaper columnists who belittle life-long marriage; radio hosts who rile against refugees; the big glossy advertisements for brothels in my local newspaper; climate-change proponents who label their critics ”deniers” to silence them; climate-change critics who label their opponents “alarmists” for the same reason. Yes, some things make me angry.
Jesus became angry (John 2:13-17; 11:33). One…
echo and his master
Well, since the washing machine broke last week (and yes, I grumbled), I have found myself at the laundromat twice this week.
Today, as I was waiting on a rinse cycle, I observed a man and his dog. This was a wonderful moment at the local laundromat I would have missed had I been home doing the laundry. (I've determined…
sellout
Anthony Marshall conned his mother out of millions before she died at age 105 in 2007. Her money, advancing age, and struggle with Alzheimer’s disease made her an attractive target. Marshall’s mother was Brooke Astor—famous New York City socialite and keeper of the vast Astor family fortune. Ironically, her senior-citizen son was already wildly wealthy, and yet he conspired with…
