Navigating sibling conflict is one of the most stressful parts of parenting. It is distressing for us as parents to see the little people we love and adore mistreat one another! It shouldn’t be so! We’re family, after all. And yet it is so. Siblings fight. Siblings fight hard and often. They fight because those little people we love and adore have, just like us, desires that battle within them...
Over the four-plus years my beloved wife Nanci faced cancer, there were many good reports and many bad ones. We rode a roller coaster of emotions throughout her three surgeries, three rounds of radiation, and three rounds of chemo. I vividly remember the day when the doctor said it was now stage 4 cancer that had spread to her lungs. That night we prayed together, and then I went downstairs, got...
I became familiar with dread as a child. I’d had a very difficult time adjusting when my family moved to Connecticut in the middle of my third-grade year. From then on, every time the calendar turned to August and the school year loomed ahead of me, a feeling grew in the pit of my stomach that I came to know as dread. It didn’t matter that I liked school or even that I made good grades. I dreaded...
I didn’t expect to experience postpartum depression after the birth of our third child. Having been through the newborn phase twice before, I wondered why this time was so much harder for me than the others. Disappointment and discouragement seemed to define those newborn weeks. I wasn’t performing like the strong and capable mother I thought I would be. Maybe you’ve been taken by surprise as...
Does your church have deacons? And if so, do you know who they are and what they do? If the answer to these questions is “Yes,” you’re in the minority. Few American churches have a thriving diaconal ministry. The average church website lists pastors, staff members, and directors who oversee various aspects of ministry, but rarely will you find deacons listed among the leadership. One popular...
