Today I was prepared to clean the bathroom. It was on the plans, and I was ready to go. Things did not work that way. Mom began the day saying, “Everyone go outside and help pick up the sticks your dad heard falling all night.” Now, picking up sticks is a good excuse for being… Read More Plan Change
What would your response be if you learned death and disaster were headed straight for you? That is where Mordecai found himself after Haaman persuaded the king to make a decree to kill all the Jews. His first recorded response was mourning: sackcloth and ashes. Then he made a plan with Queen Esther to approach… Read More Mordecai’s Faith
Last spring, my grandma was talking about how the news reported around fifty tornadoes already. She remembered one that devastated Udall a few days before she graduated from High School. While she spoke I thought, too, of the pictures of flooding in Oklahoma—houses with only their second story visible. I know I have no guarantee… Read More Storm Shelter
Heaven, throne of pure and glorious; Holy, holy blinding stream of light. Who shall stand before the righteous judge? All are shadows, spilled, before His sight. Holy, holy blinding stream of light– Fire consumes the wretched dross to dust. All are shadows, spilled, before His sight; Darkness sullies all we touch with rust. … Read More Sinner’s Song
This weekend I was standing on the back porch, singing and admiring God’s strength in the coming storm. The clouds opened up and the rain gushed down; thunder punctuated a strike of lightning to the south. Then the hail began and the wind picked up. I have never seen hail come in at such a… Read More Tornado Grace
When God gave His law to Israel, one of the concepts set up was that of the kinsman redeemer. When land or even people were sold, provision was made for buying them back. If a man could not redeem himself or his own land, his kin was allowed to (Leviticus 25:25, 47-49). It was a… Read More Redeemer-Avenger
My brother James and I decided to venture into downtown Manous via bus. He got onto his computer and looked up what buses took what routes, then made a list of bus numbers we could take to our destination and a list of bus number possibilities for our return. This was new territory for us,… Read More Trust Ride
I had the opportunity to visit my brother this summer while he was in Brazil. We were right on the Amazon, and one of my favorite parts of the trip were the walks on the jungle trails. One afternoon a group of us walked through the jungle to a place where the water came up… Read More Termites
“I do set my bow in the cloud, and it shall be for a token of a covenant between me and the earth.” Genesis 9:11 God’s bow. A glorious, seven-faceted bow of color in the sky to establish His covenant of mercy and graciousness, a promise to never again destroy the earth by flood. For… Read More God’s Bow
Marriage is an illustration of God’s relationship with his people. Throughout the Old Testament God used the picture of Israel being His wife especially when calling them to be faithful to Him. In the New Testament, wives are told to submit to their husbands who are their head like Christ is the head of the… Read More Wedding Names
