The Afternoon of Life

A recent homework session with Holden had me lying in bed late one night and replaying all that had happened.   It had NOT been a good session with Holden…at least it had not started out well.   First, he refused to sign his own name on the math paper assigned for homework.   He kept insisting he wanted to put "B29"…and when given a pencil, that is what he wrote.   I erased his mistake and reminded him who he was before asking a second time for him to write his name.   And again he wrote “B29”.   I knew immediately this was not going to go well.   Sometimes Holden gets in his head exactly what he believes should happen…and getting him to change his mind is like pulling teeth from a polar bear (or at least what I imagine that would be like).    Again and again and again he continued to try to sign in as “B29”…and then he began folding his fists together as a ninja pose.   I bowed my head and prayed, “Lord, I’m not sure how to help hi...

“Don’t ask me about being a writer.  If when you wake up in the morning you can think of nothing but writing, then you’re a writer!”   ~Rainer Maria Rilke I’m not sure how many years ago I first heard this quote shared by Whoopi Goldberg in Sister Act II, but I remember it made me cry.   I remember as a teenager wishing I could be a writer.   As a young mom, I wished I could express everything happening in my life so I could keep all my memories filed somewhere better than my brain – it seems I misfile too much stuff there and cannot pull it up when I want to enjoy it.   I remember when I started teaching school fifteen years ago I wanted to keep a journal – but teaching took too much time for me to make notes every day.   I battled cancer for so many days, weeks, months and even years – and yes, I did start a journal but was too afraid to write my fears in case they came true, and too afraid to dream of a future in case it didn’t come tru...

Book Review "Zealous for Good Works" by Todd A. Wilson What a challenging read for the Christian with a heart to grow the Kingdom of God through obedience to the Scriptures.  Wilson has logically, spiritually and forcefully captured the spirit of the writings of Titus in this well-organized, enthusiastic and uplifting volume.  He asks the question, “Is your church transforming the community?” and from there builds on the steps needed to take the church all the way up to becoming a city on a hill! Chapter titles are intriguing and it’s hard not to take a shortcut through to those that look more interesting, but one will certainly lose out on the flow of this book by doing so.  He explains why he chose the book of Titus to help the church grow to become a serving church and not just a body of believers.  He asks another question:  “What Turns a Place Upside Down?” and goes on to illuminate the importance of excellent preaching in the church.  H...

Jonathan Cahn has a third home run in his writing of “The Paradigm”.  The book is a gateway book that actually helps to set the stage for his third book “The Harbinger”, which was also an out-of-the-park volume.  Both books are fictional, but there’s so much Scripture involved that they feel factual.  Most of the information shared in both books is factual and can be confirmed through reading of the Scriptures and through Internet searches.  It’s hard to call the historical fiction because the history shared in both books is less than fifty years old in many places…but history it is.  While “The Harbinger” refers to events around 9-11-2001, “The Paradigm” is going to take us back to the Old Testament reign of Ahab and Jezebel, comparing their governing to recent principles in our own immediate history…and it’s a fascinating comparison.  There is little to “contrast”…because Cahn has found the stories to be almost identical in scope, purpose and ending...

One of my children had a friend when they were in high school who has stayed in my life...popping in from obscurity every year or two.  Today I received a call from her and ma heartbroken to hear her life story in the past several months.  She is a young woman diagnosed with physical and mental disabilities... disabilities that did not show up till after she was out of school.  Dan and I attended her wedding several years ago...only to learn that within a year she and her husband were divorced (both of them had mental diagnoses). She was in a group home in Buffalo the next few times I talked to her but left that home last year and moved to a home with her "girlfriend's sister"...and the sister's boyfriend...and kids.  In October, she "had words" with the sister - who promptly kicked her and her friend out into the streets...of Buffalo...in October! Since then the girlfriend has left her life and she has "survived" alone on the streets under...

"Teach us to number our days,  that we may gain a heart of wisdom." Psalm 90:12 NIV Pastor Al preached on Psalm 90 this past Sunday, December 30, 2018 and today, anuary 2, 2019, verse 12 is the “Verse of the Day” on Bible Gateway!  When God’s Word shows up in my life twice in such a short time, I take notice and pay attention.  There’s obviously something He’s trying to get through to me. “Teach” – when the writer asks God to teach him, he is expressing his willingness to learn.   Taken in context with the whole verse, he’s also declaring his willingness to be a lifelong learner at the feet of God.   I need to be the same – a student for my whole life!   No matter how much I know, there’s just so much more to learn!   I’ve learned in recent years that I LOVE learning…and learning more and more about my Father is good for my soul! “Us” – this verse is not all about me.   Lessons are to be shared, passed on, discussed an...