When I was in high school, I remember my parents watching the television program Antiques Roadshow. In each episode, people would bring some object from their home in order to consult with a collectibles expert about its value. Sometimes a sculpture, bowl, rug, or baseball card that looked commonplace would be just that—ordinary. Other times, however, the most everyday item would actually turn...
When my wife was little, her family was Amish. Barn raisings, buggies, high-stepping horses, shoofly pies—the whole postcard. Later, they left that life and became mainstream farmers. The suspenders and bonnets were gone, but they remained hard-working, no nonsense, sweep-the-porch folks. As good-natured a family as homemade jam and bread. I grew up taking in the city. Mom and I would hop the...
Everyone loves a good story. The architecture of a great story speaks to the deepest longings of our hearts. Love never loses, goodness and truth always win, and at the most desperate point of need, a rescue comes. The Christmas message tells a story with these very elements, detailing God’s remarkable plan that starts with a baby in a manger and continues with a ministry that would forever...
Many years ago, our family went to a Christmas party. A children’s gift shop was offered for kids to shop for family Christmas gifts. You know the type: often stocked with dollar store finds, silly items, or discarded, unwanted gifts no one else claimed. Our kids enjoyed shopping for gifts, wrapping them, and returning home with bags of goodies. One of our sons, AJ, was bursting with pride over...
One of my best friends went to Harvard. Our freshman year, we came back for Christmas break and exchanged stories from our different colleges. He told me that their semester hadn’t ended. He had to study for finals and work on projects during the break. How horrible! I thought. That would be so stressful, wouldn’t it? How could a person enjoy the holidays with pressure like that? Now, as a...
