On the week we were engaged, Jared and I were grocery shopping together when he got a text that nearly took the wind out of him. It was from a fellow pastor, asking if he'd heard the news: a preacher they both greatly respected, a stalwart leader and renowned expositor, had fallen to immorality. Overnight, … Continue reading Upon the Fall of a Pastor
"The Lord is gracious and merciful,slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love.The LORD is good to all,and his mercy is over all that he has made."~ Psalm 145:8-9 Things that made me (very) happy in September: The first bite into a honeycrisp apple September goldenrod Jon Foreman's newest album, In Bloom, which I'm late … Continue reading Goldenrod & a Golden Ring
A few days ago, I dug my sourdough starter out from the back of the basement fridge, lifted off the tea towel, and found it was black and hard as stone. I said, Of course. This would be the year my starter died. My biologist friend had told me just last week that it’s quite … Continue reading The Year My Sourdough Starter (Nearly) Died
I remember the way I described the Atlantic Ocean in my letters to Papa Larry from Cape Cod, when we walked the easternmost hem of Race Point Beach with the sea "rising and falling at our sides." But the Pacific, I now realize, does not "rise and fall" like some prim lady curtsying. It cracks … Continue reading Consider the Hummingbirds and the Seas
I'd hate to think that somedayI could be watching a soap operain a beach motelwhen,outside and across the street,there is a full-bellied moon risingover the crashing tideslike a great, golden peachin a storm-tossed orchard.I'd like to think that somedayI'll be like the man with the long camerawho'dsearched the Internet and watchedfrom his car for weeks,and … Continue reading I’d Hate to Think
"The good of my life and comforts and my happiness are more in God than in myself."~ Jeremiah Burroughs, The Rare Jewel of Christian Contentment Things that made me happy in August: Long evenings of light to read on the swing Making Mema's cucumber salad from all the cucumbers in the garden Little Ozark mountain … Continue reading Redwood Trees & Rocks in the Sea
They showed a map on TV the other night that over her lifetime, U.S. swimmer Katie Ledecky has nearly swum the circumference of the earth. She may as well have swum to Paris for the Olympics, I thought. But I wondered if all her training had felt that way---if, with each stroke, she felt herself … Continue reading Two Good Legs
"We reflect the greater storyof our King and His bride."~ Bethany Barnard, Covenant These are the things that made me happy in July: On the first day of July: watering the garden in a sweatshirt, walking in rubber boots around the pond, making granola, sewing a dress Flying down the slippin' slide on the big … Continue reading Fireworks & Wedding Flowers
On Dangerous Hospitality One of the first chapter books I owned was a little paperback my dad bought for me, called The Watchmaker’s Daughter. It must have been a child’s adaptation of Corrie ten Boom’s story in The Hiding Place, which I wouldn’t read until I was old enough to brave it. I loved Corrie. … Continue reading Hiding Place
For Joel & NatalieA Blessing for Their House May you live like you’re young in this house that’s older than you,old as the trees,old like the bell steeple on Main Street,and the railroad that runs with the river west to the town where Dad was born. May you not erase the aging lines of this place, which … Continue reading Remember
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