I am a great lover of Renaissance art. As a teacher, this time period was one of my favorites to cover in my upper-level elective class. I focused almost exclusively on 44 pieces I had chosen to weave the tale of this time line through. Continue reading Sculpting in the Storm
One night, we were awakened by the ringing of the telephone. My husband, Darryl, got up to answer it in the living room. I was not fully awake, but I was very much aware that it was deep in the night. Phone calls this late are never good news. I lay there struggling with the reality of that and trying to pretend that maybe the phone hadn’t rang, or somehow it would just be a wrong number, or some other benign happening. Continue reading What a Relief!
I was at the store just a couple of days ago, and a lady in the aisle next to me was talking on her cell phone. She was talking to a man. How do I know that? Well…she was using the speaker phone feature. Now, I’m not an eaves dropper by nature, but she was talking on speaker phone in a public place. It wasn’t exactly a private conversation. Continue reading Hell is Always Open
Quite possibly the best thing my oldest daughter, Dayton, has ever sent me is this picture of a domestic cat wearing a lion’s mane. Yeah…I’m easy to please. But just look at him there – wearing that mane like it’s just what he’s supposed to do. His eyes flash with confidence. He’s not the least bit unsettled. He’s not confused about who he is – there’s no identity crisis here. He’s a cat, and he knows it. He also knows he hails from the same biological family as the King of the Jungle. And so he dons the synthetic mane with pride and conviction of who he is on the inside. Continue reading The Lion Inside
The year my mother and brother died, we decided to have a big ole family Christmas at my parents’ house. Everyone would be there from my mom’s side of the family. We even decided to draw names and exchange gifts. My mom and brother had only died 23 days apart from each other. It started in October, so we were all still very raw and pretty much going through life like zombies. Continue reading Life is Like a Chocolate Pie
On a recent trip to my local grocery store, I spent way too much time trying to find the fly swatters. It is summer, and a few of those pesky little critters found their way into my house. I finally stopped to ask a gentleman employed by the store if he knew where I could find a fly swatter.
He turned to me and asked, “A what?”
“A fly swatter,” I replied.
Now, the gentleman crept a few steps closer to me, and inquired again, “A what?”
I thought maybe the man was slightly hard of hearing, so I answered again, “A fly swatter”. This time I could see on his face that it wasn’t that he couldn’t hear me…he couldn’t understand me. Very quickly I added, “Fly swatter…F. L. Y. swatter”.
Touchdown! I realized the gentleman finally knew what I was saying.
“Oh…a fly swatter! With your accent, I couldn’t understand what you were saying,” he proceeded to explain as he led me to the item. Continue reading Sometimes You Feel Like the Fly – Sometimes You Feel Like the Swatter
There are a lot of things I miss about the church I grew up in – seeing my aunts, uncles, and cousins on a regular basis is pretty high on the list – but those fellowship meals are some of my fondest memories.
Of course it was wonderful to spend time with all the members of the church, but…the food…
the food…
the FOOD!
That’s what I miss! Yes…I was raised Baptist. Baptist need to eat. Together. Often. Continue reading The Fellowship of the Brethren
More than 16 years ago now, I stood at my bathroom vanity on the phone and listened as my father explained to me how he didn’t think we were going to get much of a break between the death of my mother – whom we had buried only two weeks prior – and the death of my brother, Robin. I struggle with writing this now almost as much as I struggled with comprehending the reality of the situation then. My brother had been diagnosed with cancer about two years before. He was five years older than me, and had been my hero growing up. He was Superman. He was adventurous, athletic, brave, beautiful, and I was pretty sure he could leap tall buildings in a single bound. It was unthinkable that at just 38 years old he had already found his kryptonite, but it was unbearable to face the loss of both my mother and my brother at the same time. Continue reading Wherever He Leads I’ll Go
Our youngest daughter, Autumn, moved to Hawaii this past September. She wanted to have an adventure. Just a few days ago her adventure turned into something she hadn’t quite bargained for. She was sound asleep, having worked late the night before, when the alarms first went out. Continue reading From Tranquility to Terror
This is the third part of our series for the Christian seeking to improve your relationship with Jesus. To link to Part 1, click HERE. To link to Part 2, click HERE
In Part 2, we finished looking at the 1st of 4 steps in jump-starting your relationship with Jesus.
It can be a difficult thing to fully Analyze Your Friendship with Jesus, and it is the most time-consuming of the 4 steps. We previously looked at Signs of a Bad Friend and Signs of a Good Friend in order for us to be more honest about our relationship.
Now that you have a more clear picture of where your relationship stands with Jesus, it is time to move on to the second step. Continue reading Jump-Start Your Relationship With Jesus Using These Simple Steps – Part 3
God Before Coffee is a registered trademark.