Posts tagged “Children”

Plan for a train
Plan for a train One of my daughter’s track coaches was known for being that kind of coach—the one who set a high bar…

Never give up
Irene came of age during the Great Depression—a young mother before WWII. Her marriage was fraught with neglect and abuse as she raised her…

Gift formula
There’s a piece of artwork on my desk that’s quite valuable—at least to me. One of my kids took some crayons and drew a…

Wanted: Dead (to be made alive)
There was a baptism at our church recently. Cute little girl in a fancy little dress. She had a bow in her hair. She…

Convicted yet forgiven
When my boys were younger, I took them to swimming lessons. One day I talked about my church to another mom. She responded, “I…

No matter what
I’ve had this repetitive thought in my mind lately. It’s a question, really. It shows up every time I say “I’m so blessed” in…

A hole and the whole
Recently, our 16-year-old son got his first phone. (Yes, we lean slightly toward the old-school way of life. . . . We also still…

Blessings, not burdens
I was at the grocery store with my three kiddos when the cashier scanned the three bottles of wine I was buying for a…

The weakest link
“A chain is only as strong as its weakest link” is a proverb inspired from an 18th-century book by Thomas Reid. Ideally, God’s visible…

Are you ready for creation’s final concert?
Sometimes I think singing isn’t as much a part of our culture as it used to be. The evidence is everywhere. About a month…

Family is fleeting, but GOD is forever
Pastor Mark Jeske, the original Time of Grace pastor, once told me that I needed to be intentional about parenting in the early teenage…

Helping boys become men
In the 90s, I was a regular on the church basement seminar circuit. One of my presentations was entitled, “Helping Boys Become Men.” It…