Goodbye, 2020. Adios. Arrivederci. Au revoir. Sayonara. Good riddance. Get outta here and don’t come back, you hear? I don’t know anyone who will regret giving a hearty goodbye to this arduous, grievous, and all-around unpredictable year. A viral pandemic spanned the globe, killing nearly 2 million people and sickening tens of millions more. Economic strife followed on COVID’s heels as...
Does your child struggle with jealousy from time to time? The best time to talk with children is when they are not actually jealous. When they are, children don’t listen well, and parents are impatient. But this can be a time when parents and children talk about an experience common to us all. And that conversation is a gift: to talk about something we all struggle with and to talk about it...
We are thankful for all of you and your partnership in the gospel. But of course all that we do points us to Jesus – the baby who brought light and life to our dark world. Thankful that he still seeks the broken and the lame and changes us into starry signs of his power and love. We can’t wait until he comes again and makes all things new. Wise men once sought him;They followed the starry signAnd...
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...
