Photo by Edu Carvalho on Pexels.com When I was little, pre-school, I would hop off the wooden pews every Sunday to make my way over to the place where Clarice Lemley sat. Clarice, was in my mind, exactly Aunt Bee from The Andy Griffith show. She was plump and grey headed and wore flowered dresses. … Continue reading The gift of conversation between generations
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Distracted kids, tired parents, smart phones and what teaching your kids the Bible should really look like
Lifeway Resarch group published the results of research they did to see what the contributing factors were in spiritual health among young adults.What they found was that overwhelmingly, kids who regularly read the Bible while growing up are likely to experience a healthy spiritual life with God and the church. I was both shaken … Continue reading Distracted kids, tired parents, smart phones and what teaching your kids the Bible should really look like
My cluttered brain and my grey-headed friend
I have ideas all the time. All the time. My phone is full of notes I voice-to-text to save for future reference. My bullet journal is full of thoughts, ideas, to-do's, goals, dreams, plans, appointments, more ideas. And if I had to draw a chart of what's going on in my brain and try to … Continue reading My cluttered brain and my grey-headed friend
Nauseating memories, hard questions and my hope
Just before driving into the town I grew up in my oldest son, a sophomore, asks the big questions. We took the 17 hour drive in two day chunks, making our way to Oakland, Oregon, just a few miles from Roseburg, Oregon, the small town I was born and raised in. My grandmother passed away … Continue reading Nauseating memories, hard questions and my hope
The Older Woman
You walked ahead not knowing I was thirty years behind. I was nineteen putting on a ring promising till death. You were forty-one walking through the valley of the shadow ahead of me. Three decades later a block apart our boundaries and times cross providentially. Silver hair ahead of my fading blonde bent over with … Continue reading The Older Woman
Common grace when you feel like you have nothing in common
I should be in bed but my other half likes to lay in bed and relax to YouTube videos of funny cats, and I want silence. I read Alia Joy Hagenbach's essay about the hospitality we must extend to one another in marriage. I feel the same. My marriage is an unlikely union. Even worse, … Continue reading Common grace when you feel like you have nothing in common
the war is over grandma
grandma was a little girl back in 45 "It's over. The war." her teacher hollered outside she remembered that day outside the schoolhouse also a church kicking the can to play she remembered being mad the teacher's news meant no more fun she wanted to run she recalled the holler little river rock house where … Continue reading the war is over grandma
Death tried to sting Grandma tonight. But Jesus…
Night number two with Grandma. She's more lucid this evening. Every time I've ever walked into her home I've always heard the same sugary-sweet Arkansas accented greeting, "Well hello there sweet heart!" Her eyes light up and she smiles like she knows everything that's going on in my life before I say a word. She … Continue reading Death tried to sting Grandma tonight. But Jesus…
Sheila Dougal 