The Shield of Faith

“Lord, I pray, open his eyes that he may see.” I found myself not too long ago, praying under my breath, Lord, I wish I could really see what is going on behind the scenes. I like to think that if I could see with my own two eyes and hear with my own two ears, the things that are taking place in the invisible world, my faith would be stronger, my hope greater, my witness more intentional. At least that is what I like to think. More than likely, I would be scared silly. There

"God's love never ceases. Never. Though we spurn him. Ignore him. Reject him. Despise him. Disobey him. He will not change. Our evil cannot diminish his love. Our goodness cannot increase it. Our faith does not earn it any more than our stupidity jeopardizes it. God doesn't love us less if we fail or more if we succeed. God's love never ceases." Max Lucado - Just Like Jesus It's hard to imagine that kind of love. We live in a world where you are loved as long as people can to

Do males give birth? Do mammals lay eggs? And what on earth is this picture? Things are not always as they appear. The answer to the first question is, yes. The answer to the second questions is, yes. The answer to the third question, well, I’m going to hang on to that for a moment. What does the Bible say about things are not as they appear? Ecclesiastes 7:15, “…there is a just man who perishes in his righteousness, and there is a wicked man who prolongs life in his wickedne

The topic all over the nation is snow. All up and down the western coast to points much further east, the last 2 or 3 weeks has definitely been winter. About 6 months ago, maybe more, I read the Farmer’s Almanac prediction for this winter. Did you know The Old Farmer’s Almanac has been predicting weather since 1792. (For a time-line reference, that was during the presidency of one Mr. George Washington. In fact, George Washington had unanimously won a second term as president

“Mom, you would never have allowed that when we were kids!” This said by one of my adult children after learning of my decision or reaction at something a grandchild had been allowed to do. A grandchild I was raising. It was a true enough statement, but. “They” say that you reinvent yourself every 7 years. I was told that by a friend back in the 90’s after he saw some significant changes in me and my life. I believed it to be so, but is their proof? According to bettertraits.

The Eskimos had 52 names for snow because it was important to them: there ought to be as many for love – Margaret Atwood I had booked a cabin at Whaleshead Beach Resort for my birthday weekend this past weekend. Today is my 60th birthday. They say you should never ask a lady her age. That is something I was taught many years ago. Have you ever wondered why? I found lots of conversation online on this topic, but I think the general consensus is that it makes a woman feel self-

Oh, what a gorgeous morning!! I was driving to town at about 9 this morning and the surrounding countryside was breathtaking. But yesterday afternoon was a different story. I measured 4 inches of snow at my place before it slowed down last night. Coming home I had near white-out conditions at times. It was snowing hard! It’s a heavy, droopy snow. Huge dollops of frosting on the pine trees and shrubs and then this morning, the sky has started to clear, the sun started to shine

Insert struggle here: __________ Dare I ask…do you have struggles? I’m not talking about financial struggles, or relationship struggles. I am talking about those personal struggles deep within yourself that you fight with or have fought with. Those things you wish were not a part of who you are. Those things you may be able to tame or rid yourself of, only to have it rear its ugly head at the most inopportune times. “To share your weakness is to make yourself vulnerable; to

For some reason the other day I found myself humming that old Crystal Gayle tune, “Don’t it Make My Brown Eyes Blue.” I do not have brown eyes, or blue eyes. In fact, I do not have green eyes. Let’s talk about eye color. I have Hazel eyes: a combination of green and brown. According to worldatlas.com, 70-79% of people have brown eyes worldwide. People with blue eyes: 8-10%. People with hazel eyes: 5%. People with green eyes: 2%. And, other: 9%. (Amber, Gray, etc.) Matthew 6 d

I used to imagine that we had a transporter machine like the ones I saw on our black and white television set watching mom’s favorite afternoon show. It was the early-to-mid 1970’s and it was Star Trek. The opening tune and spoken word are still stuck in my head: “Space: the final frontier…to explore strange new worlds…to boldly go where no man has gone before.” Yesterday it was about “time”, today I want to talk about space. Job 26:7 tells us that our Creator God stretched o

“Are we there yet?” It would be impossible for me to say how many times I have heard that question voiced from the backseat of the car. The grown-up reply often would be, “we’re almost there” or “try to take a nap, it will make the time go faster” or the dreaded “honey, we are not even half way there yet.” Time. Do you remember learning how to tell time? The big hand and the little hand. Of course, with digital everything now, reading hands might be a challenge for some. But

How did it get so late so soon? It’s night before it’s afternoon. December is here before it’s June. My goodness how the time has flewn. How did it get so late so soon? – Dr. Seuss I keep thinking about time. Time is tricky. Time is fleeting. Time is a vapor, a mist, a puff of smoke and then…it’s gone. Daylight Saving Time begins this year on Sunday, March 12. One year ago, the Senate unanimously approved a bill that would make daylight saving time permanent beginning in Nove

There is a change in the wind. There is a shift happening right now. Can you feel it? I know some will say it’s all part of getting older. You know, the more years you live, the more often people will let you down. With age, you learn that some people simply ruin things. As you get older you discover some of your friends are fake. You realize it is exhausting dealing with people's drama and you begin to withdraw. Those might all be legitimate reasons for change, but I would c

Let’s play a little game. What do the following have in common? Great Pyramid of Giza Hanging Gardens of Babylon Statue of Zeus at Olympia Mausoleum at Halicarnassus Colossus of Rhodes Lighthouse of Alexandria Temple of Artemis at Ephesus If you guessed the 7 wonders of the ancient world, you would be correct. What about the next group of places, what do they have in common? Golden Gate Bridge - California, USA Empire State Building - New York City, USA CN Tower - Toronto, Ca

We were doing a bunch of tree-falling and trimming about three years ago on the property. Several months later, as spring rolled around, I noticed one of the limbs that had been cut from the tree months earlier, was starting to put on leaves. It was amazing to see. There were buds in various stages of opening all over that limb. I wondered what I could learn from this. It would not take long for me to realize the lesson. Although the leaves looked as normal and healthy as the

I’m a hand-talker. I can’t help it. I have often watched the eyes of the person I was talking to try to follow my hand movements rather than make eye contact with me. It’s awkward, but I can’t help it. Many years ago, 1993 to be exact, I found myself signing on to my own air shift on a popular Top 40 radio station in southern Oregon. I knew, and told myself, “when you start using your hands to talk when you are on-air, you will know you are comfortable doing this.” It took a

I am a terrible procrastinator. Really. I used to joke that if you looked up the word ‘procrastinator’ in the dictionary, you would see my picture attached to the definition of the word. I have a saying that I came up with years ago and still use to this day. “Why do today, what you can put off until tomorrow?” Here is a fine example. This photo was taken by me in my office this morning. On the chair you will observe a green plastic bag. In that green plastic bag is a paintin

A couple of days ago a friend asked me if I had heard the temperature in our area was dropping into the low teens Sunday night and Monday night? I had not. It was spring; maybe early summer, of 2020 when I stopped watching news. I stopped listening to news. I stopped reading the news. I, like many others, began to grow this sense of distrust. Mainstream news, and news that wasn’t so mainstream, was no longer about reporting facts, but about delivering personnel, and often ang

Many years ago, a boy named Davy lived on a farm. It was a big farm, and there was lots to do to care for the animals and grow food for his family. Davy had a big sister Angie, a big brother Joe, and a sister Mary who was just a bit older than he was. One day Davy’s parents announced that they had to go away for a few days, but they were sure the children were old enough to manage the farm work by themselves while they were gone. They put Angie in charge because she was getti

Have you heard the expression, “Keep Calm and Carry on”? There are lots of articles about the importance of being calm and how to get there. But the key question really is: Why do we need to be calm? The science behind being calm is that it is healthier for our minds and bodies to be calm. Research at Johns Hopkins Medical School revealed that “People who feel angry often and fail to deal with it well are more likely to have heart problems…; the more intense or frequent the b