Category: Advent Series

    Every first-time parent desires to do a good job. They read books on child-rearing, many seek advice from experienced parents. Joseph received a message telling him his son would be the Messiah, and Mary too learned that their child would grow up to sit on the throne of David. What steps did Mary …

  In Matthew 1:20-31, Jesus’ father Joseph had just learned his wife-to-be was pregnant, and this child, Joseph knew, was not his. After thirty years of counseling people facing crisis pregnancies, I can easily imagine some of the emotions he may have experienced in those first hours: shock, anger, betrayal, grief.

  Can you imagine not being able to breathe, think, see, smell, hear, taste or feel anything?  You would be like a hard rock or a lump of clay.

  When our daughter Prisca was a little girl, she and her best friend Katie liked to fish in a local pond. They added bait to the hook, threw the line in the water and waited patiently for a nibble. The fish did not jump out of the water into their hands. The girls spent …

    Gene and I have only met Kelsey once but we pray for her daily. Our son John’s sister-in-law, Kelsey, has cancer. She is a lovely young woman, full of life. She loves the Lord. She has a wonderful husband and beautiful little daughter. Yet she is fighting pain and the effects of chemo …

    A year ago I was diagnosed with osteoporosis. It is especially bad in my hips and, knowing that one of the dangers of this disease is broken bones due to falling, I talked with my physical therapist about balance exercises. She asked me try standing on one foot with my eyes open. I …

    Why do prisons provide a condemned man with a lavish meal the night before he is to die? Believe it or not, you can go on the Web and find photos of men on death row next to the last meal they chose to have before facing execution. The meals requested varied from …

    When my husband I were first married, he confessed to having some very personal concerns. He had done his own wash up until then but now I would take over that chore. I wasn’t concerned, but he felt uncomfortable having someone else handle his dirty socks and underwear.   In John 12, Peter …

    Big family gatherings at holidays mean lots of food prep.  Over the past 40 years, I can’t even begin to count the number of meals I have prepared and the number of people who have sat at our table. Those familiar with my cooking habits know I never wear an apron. Somewhere along …