Hearing Voices

About three this morning I heard something that sounded like people fighting outside. I looked out the front window and witnessed a man standing on the sidewalk, screaming to someone down the street. He would walk a few steps and then turn around to face his accuser. His voice spooked me. It had a sort [...]

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My Brick is Breaking

Three fourth-grade boys surround me underneath a huge oak tree. We’re in Southern Indiana, at a Benedictine monastery. Thirty fourth-graders and a handful of chaperones gather in small groups around the serene campus to pray on this day: The National Day of Prayer. One of the parents has created prayer slips for each group. The [...]

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What Page Are We On?

Today someone said to me, “I need to know what page you are living on.” I restrained myself from correcting her prepositional faux pas, and bit my tongue instead of responding sarcastically with: “Oh yeah, well I need to know where you’re at.” I did however sit stunned for a moment.
She had not asked me [...]

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Where I Live

The other day I started taking photos as I was running errands. Apart from a story, these are just random photos of random places in a random city. But to me, these are the places where I live. These are the places that capture my attention for several reasons…
My kids attend a private school housed [...]

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Should, should, should

That’s a funny word. Should. Look at it a few times. It’s just plain quirky. I may start a petition to get rid of it. Think of all the times in one day you say “should.” Like right now, I SHOULD be doing laundry. I SHOULD get lunch. I SHOULD be unpacking another box.
I have [...]

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August Rush

I hesitate to name my favorite book, my favorite musician or my favorite movie. Mainly because I don’t have one favorite. How can a person pick one favorite when that person is multi-dimensional, dynamic and ever-changing? It would be like bearing children and picking one as your favorite. There’s no way.
In my case, I don’t [...]

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Enslaved no more

When those who are rescued from various forms of slavery around the world, it’s hard to believe they would ever want to go back to that life. Ever. Yet, one of the ministries I highly respect (www.ijm.org) has a program specifically for aftercare. They are not the only ministry that does this. Many of the [...]

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No one Ever Told Me

The Badlands National Park, in South Dakota, has been there all my life, yet no one ever told me. I am truly amazed that no one has sent me trekking this way before. No one has shared their enthusiasm for this natural wonder in this beautiful land called South Dakota. How could it have taken [...]

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Still a Winner

When I was in high school, our Student Council organized a blood drive. I got all fired up to save lives, but when they drew some sort of sample, the blood suckers determined I was too anemic to give blood. They gave me a sticker that said, “I’m special, too. I tried.”
I just entered a [...]

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What I Fear

I have friends who say that fear is nothing more than False Evidence Appearing Real. If that is the case, then I am wasting a lot of my life on faulty thinking.
That little tyrant, Fear, struck me again today. Our family sat on the sidelines of Boy 2’s soccer game and he was on. [...]

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