One morning at the YWAM (Youth with a Mission) base near Tijuana, Mexico, the staff and students were taught self-protection moves. That area has a reputation for being rough, and tighter security measures, like a nightly patrol, had been … Read more

After waking up yesterday morning and finding that I couldn't go back to sleep, I went to my bookshelf to find a book to read. I pulled one out and realized that I hadn't read it in a long time, so I flipped it open. It was written by … Read more

Growing up, I was fairly oblivious to the concerns that my parents were then experiencing: money, household, job security, school schedules, and so on. Global and political crises of our country seemed peripheral. My main concerns were … Read more

Years ago, I was on a summer placement in the backwoods of Nova Scotia, Canada. Believe it or not, the phones were the old crank style and, more amazing, connected everyone in the community so that any and all could listen. No … Read more

In my early years, errors of judgement and traumas of life evoked strong emotional responses in me. Oppressive forces latched onto and hid behind the sin, guilt, and shame. These were external entities that were seeking to damage and … Read more

All my male friends seemed to enjoy it, but somehow, I didn't share their enthusiasm. When I was a pre-teen, putting together model cars was the in thing. Most of my male friends did it and seemed to love it. I looked at the shelves … Read more

There is an appointed time for everything! The word "time" appears 28 times in the book of Ecclesiastes and over 600 times in the Bible as a whole. I have always been fascinated by all kinds of old manual pendulum wall clocks, which … Read more

Ruby is an Irish Setter. Setters are tall dogs with long legs. At five months of age, some days, Ruby's long legs cause her a great deal of trouble. She careens around corners, ending up on her side with four lanky legs flying out in … Read more

Oh, what a difference one tiny little letter made! My high school classmate, Annette, had just sent me an email telling about her upcoming surgery for shin cancer. Shin cancer? I'd never heard of such a thing, but knowing that Annette … Read more

Being American, I am aware that for the most part, mine is a coffee-drinking country. In a 2021 report from urbanbeancoffee.com, statistics of coffee consumption in the United … Read more