We prayed the Lord’s Prayer every school day, in my elementary public school classrooms. I still hear the voices of my classmates, heads bowed, hands folded. Holly Parker, always the class rebel, likely peeked and passed notes to Larry McKay. (Okay, I peeked at least once.) “Teach us to pray,” …
God always answers prayer. But the Lord of the universe is not our personal genie. Like any good parent, he responds as he wills, when he wills. People prayed for rain for most of Canada’s blistering, fire-ridden, drought-plagued summer. It didn’t come till mid-August. The evening that first broke the …
My daughter and I sat side by side on her RV couch, holding our cell phones. I had just complained about how often I misplaced mine. “Mom,” she said, “why don’t you just call it?” “Pardon me?” “Call it. It will answer you.” She reached for my phone and adjusted …
I wrote the paragraphs below a long time ago. Originally published as one of my early columns, they eventually landed in my second book, Practice by Practice. I sense today’s readers, at least some of them, need these words (lightly edited from the original) even more now. My earliest memories …
A dog, I am. Cash, as in Johnny. And cold Cash. And (the one I like best), “Grab the Cash and run!” When Kathleen picks up my harness and leash and puts on her shoes I know what’s up. “Takin’ a dash with Cash,” she tells the Preacher. But she doesn’t …
An embarrassing truth confronts us all. We first-world emperors have no clothes after all. Reassurances of our own lordship, the thoughts that have clothed most of us for most of our lives (we are what we make of ourselves, unconquerable, masters of our own destiny, no God necessary) have toppled …
“If you do not forgive men their trespasses,” Jesus said, “neither will your Father in heaven forgive your trespasses.” It’s a condition not easily met. During the Holocaust, Dutch watchmaker Corrie Ten Boom, along with her beloved sister, Betsie, spent ten months imprisoned in Ravensbruck concentration camp. Nazis had discovered …
A hundred kilometres an hour clicked smoothly by—until the harsh scraping sound from under the van rudely interrupted. “WHAT’S THAT?” The Preacher slowed and pulled off the highway. Fearing the worst, we got out and inspected below. A loose narrow rod, bent at both ends, rested on a crossbar. One …
Sometimes I forget that our four oldest grandchildren never knew their grandfather when he was healthy. Never saw him leap high into the air and toss a ball into a hoop. Never descended into a cave with him, hiked a mountain trail together, or knew him as someone who often …
A friend called one day, in a panic. Her babysitter couldn’t come. Was there any way I could watch her ten-week old foster baby for her—all day long? My mind raced. So many pressing things sat on that square of my calendar. I couldn’t imagine setting them aside for an …
