Every Easter, the Preacher pulls out our guitar, sits down, clears his throat and begins. It’s one of our family’s favourite traditions: “The gates and doors were barred, all the windows fastened down. I spent the night in sleeplessness And rose at every sound; half in hopeless sorrow, and half …
Sometimes, during a life transition, even an anticipated one, the road stretching ahead appears as murky as fog on an unfamiliar highway. Several of our friends have turned onto that highway by choice. “We’re excited,” they say, “But of course we wonder….” What if that new job seems perfect in …
Delores, Loretta, Nadine. Sheryl and Susan. A few others and myself. Our circle of friends has met for years. We connect online, too, but mostly we gather weekly. Same time, same place. We each bring our own lunch, everything from drive-through salad to slow-cooked soup and fresh-baked muffins. Or nothing …
As the snowmobile I rode muttered down the trail, the tiny crimson berry seemed to zip past at eye level. Smaller than a drop of blood, suspended on an otherwise barren branch, the nearly transparent orb presented the only bright colour I’d seen in nature’s palette all day. When the …
“Billy Graham is more alive than he’s ever been,” my daughter Amanda texted early on February 21st. And I knew: Billy would celebrate his 100th birthday in heaven. In the evangelical world, Billy had no equal. Over his more than six decades of worldwide evangelistic “crusades” as they were called, not even …
What does a clergyman do, exactly? Having lived with one for over four decades, I can tell you what it has meant for him. In the last four decades, the Preacher has delivered close to three thousand sermons – not counting funerals and weddings, camps and retreats. Even with readily …
Young love – I remember it well. Heartflutters, crazy mood swings, electric touches, skin on fire and passionate messages transmitted across the room by eye contact alone. We kissed to the Carpenters singing We’ve Only Just Begun during our Saturday morning rendezvous in our college’s least-frequented student lounge. We didn’t …
“I’m getting a dog,” I told the Preacher, after a stressful day at work. “I want a pet that will walk with me. And,” I sniffed in a self-pitying sort of way, “one who’s crazy about me.” His Grace (the cat) favours the Preacher. And though I’m certain our parrot …
“I can’t believe this. I lost my phone again,” I complained to the Preacher. Accustomed to my ritual phone hunts, he sighed and continued playing Suduko on his tablet. Circling the living room, I ambled down the hall and migrated to the kitchen. In 2007, barely a decade prior, we …
A dozen years ago, after a visit to a distant friend, she sent a parcel. “What’d you forget?” the Preacher asked. (I lose things easily. Even my head, sometimes.) “Nothing!” I said, ripping the wrappings. Inside, nested in creamy packing material, lay a meticulously crafted stone Inuksuk, arms outspread. Precariously …
