I paid for two college degrees waiting tables throughout high school and college. I not only loved it, I was really good at it. (I once got a $100 tip off of a table that wasn’t even mine because the man paying the bill thought that the stories I was telling the table next to […]

My son is fascinated by history- particularly military history. (I think it’s a boy thing.) Recently, I was reading a book about the invasion of Normandy during World War II with him. The lead-up story to that event is so clever that it is nearly unbelievable! Here’s what happened. Hitler’s troops were sweeping across Europe […]

My sister married a sweet guy who has a great work ethic. Though he was not raised a farm kid, he is quick to jump into any project that our family is working on when he is around. One of those projects is putting up hay in the summer. Haying is a hot, itchy job […]

Once, when I was a kid, Billy Graham preached a crusade in Oregon. It was such an event that our family traveled all the way to the big city to see him. I had never seen so many people in my entire life! Reverend Graham preached a simple sermon about the prodigal son and I […]

While attending our county fair recently, my four-year old had an experience that may have changed the trajectory of her entire young life and it all happened while we were watching the dairy cow show. Somewhere between the Holsteins and Jerseys, Abigail caught sight of her- an Oregon dairy princess. To Abigail, the dairy princess […]

We live in confusing times, don’t we? So much is happening on such a consistent basis that just keeping up with the news is exhausting, even paralyzing. Do you ever look around and say, “Jesus, what in the world is going on and what can I do about it?” If you do, that is the […]

“And watch that mouth!” my friend joked at the end of a message to me this week. He was joking, but only half-joking. He knows that my sharp tongue gets me into trouble. According to Galatians 5:22, keeping my mouth shut when it needs to be is part of my job as a Christ follower. […]

“How do I know when to stop praying? How do I know if this thing that I am praying to go away is really my ‘thorn in the flesh’?” The young mom who posed this question to me was facing an ongoing health crisis with one of her children. She and her husband were praying. […]

This morning I woke after tossing and turning much of the night because of some unsolicited “critiquing” of a parenting decision that I recently made. As I stood with my cup literally under the drip of the coffee maker, I was alerted to the fact that a ministry opportunity that I had pursued with everything […]

My son and oldest daughter clearly have the spiritual gift of giving. Even before they could write “thank you” notes by themselves, their grandparents would open notes from the kids to find a scribbled picture and 17 cents in change in thanks for a birthday or Christmas gift. I once got an end-of-year tax deduction […]