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Pray for the Peace of Jerusalem
For ten days in September, a group from our church visited the beautiful country of Israel. One month later, on October 7, 2023, the land that has such a special place in my heart was attacked. Shock and sadness washed over me at the news. I tried to imagine the panic of those huddled in safe rooms. I might have experienced the horror firsthand had the attack come a month earlier. Now, twenty-four days into the war, concern for friends we made during our stay there, and for Jewish people around the world, permeates my heart and prayers. War tears apart so many innocent lives on both sides. “Pray for…
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Go Forward
Has God ever opened a door and you hesitated to go forward? I certainly have. A few days ago, God used a backyard visitor to remind me of some important truths about moving ahead. I looked out my kitchen window and spotted it. A small eastern box turtle basked in the summer sun. I’d learned from my sister that turtles like cantaloupe, so I pulled out the leftover fruit from lunch. I cut several chunks into smaller pieces and hurried outside. The turtle studied me with a brown-eyed gaze. I inched closer and scattered the cantaloupe in front of her. (According to what I’ve read, most brown-eyed box turtles are…
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My Swedish Ivy
The kitchen windowsill holds several treasures I’ve collected over time. One, a birthday gift from my Aunt Ann, is a small white vase etched with a garden scene. Usually a pink camellia or a few pansies fill the vase, but today it’s home to my Swedish ivy. This isn’t just any Swedish ivy, by the way. The plant from which this cutting grew graces the mantle of the White House Oval Office. So how did someone without a green thumb acquire this distinguished ivy? My son, Corban, received a cutting from a work colleague, and Corban’s talented mother-in-law, who does have a green thumb, rooted the ivy and gave everyone…
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Time
Time matters. If you don’t believe it, try staring into an oven ready to snatch out a sweet potato casserole at the split second the marshmallows on top broil to a golden brown. An instant later, golden brown turns to crunchy charcoal. I speak from experience. Have you ever noticed most kitchens have more than one clock? Mine has four. Two digitals glow on appliances, but my favorites belonged to my mother. The larger clock hangs on the kitchen wall. Seashells decorate the clock’s round face, and rather than a digital display, moving hands mark the passage of time. The smaller clock sits on the counter and reminds me of…
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Treasures and Tea Kettles
Some of my favorite childhood memories are woven into family visits with my Grandmother and Granddad Stewart. I always felt special the second my sister and I burst through their den door. They’d hug us, exclaim how much we’d grown, and listen to my incessant chatter. A loud whistle would reverberate through the house, and Grandmother would hurry to the kitchen to move the tea kettle from the burner. She’d lift the tin cover from the cake plate and slice big pieces of chocolate cake. We’d sit in the immaculate kitchen with the starched white curtains, red countertops, and gleaming gray floors my Granddad polished the way someone from the…
Faith for the Adventure
