It wasn’t until later, after my encounter with the letter carrier and when I looked up the lyrics, that I realized I did get the words wrong.
Still
This devotional column offers food for reflection and contemplation, often including a personal experience of God’s grace in unexpected corners.
Her face is written with pain and uncertainty as the doctor brings more pills.
Over dinner she said, “Neither of us is Christian, but we wondered if you could do our wedding anyway and take out all the religious stuff?”
“a prism of leaves drift in cool air / whirling dervishes on their way down”
You are brave, and your spirit endures.
A poem about a bittersweet memory.
A poem for these troubled times.
Today I am thankful and have to give praise for time and the timeless and the shortness of days …
After 54 years of zestful living, the remainder of my brother’s life was now defined by this sentence.
A poem of suffering.
No sooner had we taken our pictures than dark clouds socked in the mountains and their valleys.
Eventually, Kathy would decide it was time to go to bed. She’d walk over to the couch and say to Soren, “Let’s go say good night to Derek.”
From where I stand, I can see a chicken farmer, an entrepreneur, someone who uses a wheelchair, a university professor, an elderly widow, and a homeschooling mom.
Sitting under a cloudless sky with an afternoon sun baking my skull and turning my balding head bright red didn’t sound like anything I wanted to do.
Social capital and the “good ol’ boys” network gave us power to float through people, doors, and walls.
A stone struck Paul so hard on the head that he was knocked unconscious.
Convicted of their past sin and consumed with the ensuing guilt, they experienced the same crushing concerns.
The phone was on speaker, so we all got to hear a bit of her friend’s attempts to console her.
Our server seemed disconnected and quite uninterested in doing her job.
God sings? Who knew? And he sings to us!
An eerie experience sparks curiosity
Sometimes we talk this way as if we’re discussing the weather. Sometimes we talk this way, and the emotional weight of our common mortality hits us.
She deeply regretted not saying “I love you.” It was something they always did. But she hadn’t done it that one time.
Helping refugees takes finesse, proper training, and certainly prayer. Above all, it comes with great blessing, for in this partnership we are finding friendship, kinship, and the body of Christ.