When the ushers in the church I attended last week counted the money in the offering plate, they found something they didn’t expect. I don’t know what, but I know they didn’t expect it. I also think they likely had a good laugh at me behind my back. I understand. …
When necessity forced me from the world of freelance writing and speaking into using those skills to earn a regular paycheque, I never imagined the blessing of a desk of my own in a quiet office. Three desks, actually, in three different offices so far. As a former interior decorator, …
The sign above the packaged figs in the produce section of the grocery store read, $2.49 or three packages $2.25 each. The elderly woman pushing the cart beside mine stared at the neatly arranged packages and shook her head. “I vant vun only. Vy for do I pay more for …
An hour before church is set to begin, I find the pastor’s wife weeping in the church nursery. She’s huddled in the chair in the corner by the playpen, pressed deep into it, like a wild thing cornered. Over the last dozen years, she has sequestered herself often here during …
“A crazy dream, that’s all.” The Preacher sat on the edge of the bed, still shuddering. Nightmares often chase him down, robbing precious sleep. “What was it?” I wanted to know. “Lizards. Crawling everywhere.” A plague of lizards, it seems, overwhelming him with their noxious presence. It seemed so …
Tabatha. Butterfly Bean. Water baby. Newly baptized Christian. As a grandmother with a passion to see her grandchildren following Jesus, that last one thrills me. Nearby water has a magnetic attraction for our grandbeans, especially during the dog days of summer. Our warm weather visits to nearby Good Spirit Lake, …
With the Bean family’s vacation just around the corner, the Preacher and I agreed to care for their sweet, though somewhat reclusive, female cat, Smokey, in their absence. Usually we check in at their house, because Grace (our own feline) has never tolerated other cats. That’s slowly changing, thanks to …
“I’m not having a heart attack,” I said. But no one listened. Things move fast when you show up at emergency complaining of chest pain and trouble breathing. So many people checked me out, poking and slapping wires and sticky pads all over the place, that I felt like a …
“Hey, Anth, what’s that smell in here? It’s wonderful!” A few minutes earlier the Preacher and I had entered the door of our son’s house. I’d noticed the fragrance wafting through the tidy space instantly, but waited until after his and Kelly’s warm welcome until I asked about it. They …
My neck hurts from looking up. I have been owl-gazing and owls rarely perch on bottom branches. When you read this, the family of long-eared owls that has enlivened our backyard and thoroughly captivated me will no doubt have moved on. My head will sit properly between my shoulders …
