Sunday mornings are often the only time you may get to lay low for a couple of hours and enjoy that second cup of coffee. Sometimes it’s those few hours that provide the mini margin to get a few things done like mowing the lawn or catching up on laundry. Kids often have sporting practices Sunday morning. Going to church can sometimes feels like...

On January 12, 2010 a devastating earthquake hit Haiti just a few miles south of the capitol. The US Geological Survey reports that the initial quake registered 7.0 on the Richter scale, with aftershocks registering as high as 5.9.  The Richter scale considers 7.0 a major quake and notes that at 5.9 even the aftershock “can cause major damage...

Donned in her favorite nightgown Kimberly* slips under the covers anticipating a good night’s sleep. Patting her husband’s shoulder she says, Goodnight honey… Tentatively Ron reaches out for Kimberly and nuzzles her check giving her a tender kiss. With a familiar sick sinking feeling in the pit of her stomach, Kimberly wriggles away from Ron,...

I’m excited to go to church. I’ve woken early, driven 45 minutes down the highway, and arrived at church with time to shake the greeters’ hands, make small talk in the foyer, and find a comfortable seat. How very spiritual of me. I listen to great worship music, engage with a thoughtful and informative speaker, and  leave with the five-hundred...

I’m not sure who first used the term “helicopter parents,” but it is an apt description of an entire generation of parents who have been intimately, and often intricately, involved in the development of their children. These are the parents who closely hover, and then swoop into their children’s lives to prevent any and all harm or failure....

I’d been praying for a husband for a long time. In fact, I adapted Hannah’s request for a son in I Samuel 1:11 to my situation: "O LORD of hosts, if you will indeed look on the affliction of your servant and remember me and not forget your servant, but will give to your servant a [husband], then I will give him to the LORD all the days of his...

“Fill ‘er up.” “Yes, sir.” As a high school student, my first job was a mystifying experience. I was officially a gas emissions technician, but you would recognize me as the guy walking up to your car to fill your gas tank.  If you were really nice, I might have even washed your windows. “Hey, can you check the fluids?” What...