“I thought we should try to enjoy the last moments of these flowers,” my friend Teresa said as she handed me a limp arrangement of wilted roses, a tired orange daisy, and a disheveled yellow spider chrysanthemum. The only thing that seemed to be living was the added greenery, which made the flowers look even […]
Who am I? I live in the sea, usually in a crevice, under a rock, or even on a ledge in shallow water near the low tide level. Others of my kind live on sand or mud flats in sheltered water, and some even lie exposed on the rocky sea floor in deeper waters. I […]
This past summer we enjoyed the beauty of the sunflowers growing on our college farm. The huge heads of these amazing flowers towering high up on their stalks have always fascinated me. I’m especially intrigued by how the sunflower knows to turn its head toward the sun. Here’s what I found. Sunflowers are “heliotropes,” a […]
Through the centuries, stars have both challenged and charmed us with their elusive yet constant presence. Drawing us above the ambitions of human pride and arrogance, these orbs of light have caused our jaws to drop in stark admiration. The vast expanse of occupied space provides an unparalleled challenge to the deep yearnings of the […]
Recently I was pondering the methods God uses to communicate with me. I was wishing that He would just come down and speak to me in plain English. I was asking Him, "How am I supposed to understand You? Why does it seem as though I have been going in circles my whole life?" As […]
Pit. Pat. Pit. Pat. A cool breeze blows as the sky begins to darken. Pitter, patter, pitter, patter. The rain increases its intensity. Whoooosh! Torrents of rain come pouring out of the sky and pound onto the ground. In a matter of minutes the ground is soaked, leaving dirt roads transformed into swaths of slick […]
Life is challenging. Today especially. I won’t bore you with the list of my stressors. Your own list will do. The point is, I just saw something that planted courage right exactly where my “can’t bone” was buried. I want you to see it too. Everybody else is asleep. The house we’re lodging in smells […]
“In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth. And the earth was without form, and void; and darkness was upon the face of the deep.... And God said, Let there be light: and there was light.” Gen. 1:1–3. When I was a freshman in high school 50 years ago, I was fascinated with […]
The mist of a winter’s dawn hung over the snowy frontier settlement. A shadow moved in the woods, and the stillness was broken by the soft swishing steps of a Native American brave. With calculated movements and deadly precision, he swung his powerful tomahawk and then stepped quickly aside. The one injured had been deeply […]
When God created this world, He gave us a burning ball of fire to light up the day. What He gave to illumine the night, however, was just a big ball of rock and dust that had no light of its own—the moon. But this seemingly insufficient sphere was given the task of lighting up […]