Honestly. Sometimes when I sit down to write my weekly column I feel guilty. Our shattered world needs infinitely more than I offer. But there I go, every week for more than twenty years now, flinging out my five-hundred words to a few gracious readers. That’s you, there. Unfolding your …
Was it the pandemic’s second or third wave? I can’t recall. But the doorbell rang at supper. I answered it and found a grandchild, standing alone, tears streaming like silver ribbons. Our daughter’s car waited at the end of the driveway. COVID protocol aside, what else is a grandmother to …
These are excellent times to prove the truth of God-inspired words of scripture. Ancient words promising that even in hard times, following Christ brings serenity, peace and joy. I miss talking about this with my Bible study friends. Most of us were working women, grabbing a warm island of companionship …
In 2004, my cousin Eldonna and I travelled to India. During part of our time in that country, we stayed with an Indian family I’d only known through correspondence. While there, we received news that Eldonna’s mother in Saskatchewan had died unexpectedly. With no cell phones, we hadn’t been in …
On the night before Christmas of 2019, I sat in a cozy corner by our slender lit tree. Minutes earlier I’d stood in the backyard, waiting for our shaggy sheepdog, Cash, to finish his business, and feeling particularly UNfestive. After the hype leading to the 25th, the harried schedule, decorating, …
At this writing, our globe has grappled with COVID-19 for almost a year. It has changed everything for too many people, and too many things for everyone. “I don’t want a new normal,” my friend said, referring to those pandemic changes. She stamped her foot a bit and fumed. “I—we …
I’m grateful for democratic elections, for national assistance programs and government watchdogs. But more than a restoration of what we had before COVID, Canada needs God. We need changed hearts. Too many other countries have demonstrated what happens otherwise… No trick or treaters, those. Blows rattled our friends’ door in …
A different way to look at your closed doors In 2007 West Nile Neurological Disease removed the Preacher from full-time ministry as a member of the clergy. But following a period of rehabilitation, Sunday mornings often still found him preaching in various pulpits temporarily or permanently without pastors. …
COVID-19, with all its adjustments, terrors and sorrows will pass in time. Remember how difficult things were at the start of the pandemic panic, when everyone learned we must keep our distance from anyone not in our own household? Early in 2020, after the Preacher and I moved nearby them, …
One day, God willing and should the earth last so long, our grandchildren will tell their children that they lived through COVID-19, just as elderly survivors of other pandemics and deadly diseases, have spoken of it to their children and grandchildren. Stories of hardship, of fear and faith and frailty. …
