One With the Gun
Last weekend, Memorial Day weekend, dear friends from Illinois visited us here on the farm. They brought their trunk of artillery and ammo. Todd and I brought ours from the basement gun safe. Spread on the table before us was an assortment of shotguns—a 9mm AR 33-round rifle with virtually no kickback, a couple 9mm handguns […]
When the World is Falling Apart and You Need Your Own Care Package
Sometimes I read the headlines and am tempted to despair. Sometimes I’m tempted to feel guilty for my own problems when I see those suffering from darkness all over the world, feeling real terrors of their own. Then again, I know Jesus cares for all—for all the masses and for just one. He suffered and […]
How Not to Covet Others’ Blooms (and How to Be Grateful for Where You’re Planted)
Why is it that EVERY year I go through the SAME cycle? My faulty memory is as predictable as my perennials popping through the earth’s crust every spring. Forgetting the warm will finally arrive and plants will once again rise, I wait impatiently, looking every day for life signs. The first of May, I still […]
Rest for Our Souls
Another rainy day here on the farm. Ah, Wisconsin! How variable is your weather! Yet, I will give thanks because this is God’s day. I will consider the good, the lovely, no matter the condition of the weather or the condition of a soul. I will give thanks and do what I can to make less-than-pleasing […]
A Stunning Love
“I will come to you and fulfill my gracious promise to bring you back to this place. For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the LORD, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future. Then you will call upon me and come and […]
Why We Need Not Worry About Anything: A Short Devotion
O LORD, our Lord, how majestic is your name in all the earth! You have set your glory above the heavens, From the lips of children and infants You have ordained praise Because of your enemies to silence the foe and the avenger. Psalm 8:1-2 You call me to walk with you this day. And […]
Vision in the Mist
I can see clearly now, the rain is gone, I can see all obstacles in my way Gone are the dark clouds that had me blind It’s gonna be a bright (bright), bright (bright) Sun-Shiny day. I think I can make it now, the pain is gone All of the bad feelings have disappeared Here […]
Faith, Not Feelings (and sometimes some medication)
I’ll be real here. I was struggling with feelings the past two days. Ever been there? After a week of pretty much nonstop caring for two injured kids on pain meds and doing all the farm chores they usually do but can’t, I’m tired. Despite my best efforts to pray, coach myself with scripture, exercise, […]
Banged Up
It’s spring. Birds and kids are flying. And some of each got banged up recently. Nick ran around in the dark playing Capture the Flag with his Boy Scout troop. Suddenly, his body hurled forward while his foot stayed behind, bound by a protruding tree root. A trip to the ER and an x-ray showed […]
Into the Woods
I meander through conifer forest next to our home, whipped by white pine branches and pricked by wild rose stems. Trails cleared years ago for riding horses in summer and cross-country skiing in winter are now overgrown from lack of tending. Some paths are hardly visible. Others are too near eroded banks of the creek […]