In most of the emails that I have sent out to friends or strangers during this time when the COVID-19 virus has been rampaging in the world, I have requested that people pray to God for success for scientists who are striving to develop … Read more

From my kitchen window, I enjoy the heavy, low-flying, distinctively coloured, quiet, slow-mannered pair of wood ducks that like to rest on their webbed feet awhile on the horizontal branches of my big, old maple trees almost every morning … Read more

Have you ever had joy in doing a difficult task? Was your joy related to the expected outcome? The writer of the Biblical letter to the Hebrews tells us that Jesus had joy in His perspective even when enduring the cross, in what we see as … Read more

Last fall, the apples from my only apple tree were terribly riddled with wee worm tracks, but I managed to salvage enough good apple parts from half a pail of apples to get a big jar of great applesauce. I read of a man who felt that his … Read more

With the importance of the moment smiling through his bushy red moustache, Grandpa eased into his chair at one end of the long, full table where the jars of red cranberry sauce nestled in poinsettia skirts — the final touch of Grandma's … Read more

Years ago, my uncle walked from his workshop — the behind-the-hedge kitchen piece of the former old farmhouse — then he came out across the grassy house yard and into the kitchen of the newer house. He held out his hammer to me. He knew … Read more

One bitterly cold morning, when I had an early appointment at a hospital a distance from home, I got into my car in my garage and turned the key — only a flash of red light. I tried several times, but no start. I walked toward my kitchen … Read more

One day when I was little, I found, as the surprise in my popcorn box, a tiny pair of scissors. But how horrible! They would not open. They just sat there in the palm of my hand, a senseless, one-piece thing of cast metal. I felt put-down … Read more

In Nigeria, Africa, the Mbe Bible-translating team was into Luke chapter 2, verse 7. They did not even pause at their Mbe word used for manger. They had always used the word okpang orally and in their partial translations. But now, … Read more

My north window looks onto the schoolyard. There I see old box elders, young replacement trees, and a half-grown silver maple with leaves shaped much like the one on our Canadian flag. But the silver maple's leaves were brown — in … Read more

A grandmother purchased a book designed to introduce teen-aged readers to Jesus Christ. After reading it herself, she mailed it to her adolescent grandson for his birthday. About a week later, she received a letter from the lad thanking … Read more

I have one stronger fingernail. Years ago, when I was vacuuming near my heirloom treadle Singer sewing machine, I decided to lift back its heavy cast iron functioning part and vacuum under it. When I finished and was hinging it down into … Read more

I awoke on Saturday night close to 12:00 a.m. with sharp pain in a tooth. After forcing aspirin chips into a tiny cavity that I had previously not known existed, I slept until 6:00 a.m. when pain awoke me. More aspirin chips got me active … Read more

Late afternoon, to my car in my garage, I carried the almost-thawed fish fillets that I had promised for a supper party to be held at my niece's home to celebrate my brother's 86th birthday. I punched the opener, and my big garage door … Read more

A story passed down from 1916 in our family is of my grandfather yelling to my grandmother, in a frantic moment when their farm house was on fire with no hope of it being saved, "If you go into that house one more time, I'll not go in. Our … Read more

At a picnic this past summer, I left my wide-brimmed, white cotton hat on a lawn chair to save my seat while going through the food line. When I returned with my loaded paper plate, someone was sitting on my hat! Shutting my mouth, I … Read more

When we toured Israel as a group, our faith was reinforced as our experienced leader, a Christian minister, many times supplemented our Jordanian guide's orations of what we were seeing by telling us of further connections between these … Read more

by Isabel Allison A little lad, loved by kin of mine, looked straight ahead, then in voice sublime — for child philosophers tend to mime — spoke out amid the chatter of Christmas supper time: "This sure has been a good Christmas," … Read more

One of the greatest things about celebrating Thanksgiving is the singing of long-time favourite hymns that keep coming back to us, hymns with words like: "Now thank we all our God, with heart and hands and voices, who wondrous things has … Read more

O Canada! our home and native land, True patriot love in all thy sons command. With glowing hearts we see thee rise, The true north, strong and free, From far and wide O Canada, We stand on guard for thee. God keep our land glorious and … Read more

From my kitchen window, I enjoy the heavy, low-flying, distinctively coloured, quiet, slow-mannered pair of wood ducks that like to rest on their webbed feet awhile on the horizontal branches of my big, old maple trees almost every morning … Read more

We are amazed at all of the technology that has come into use in the past fifteen years, and we wonder what might be discovered, developed, and revealed within the next very few years. God created the cosmos with all of the possibilities … Read more

Oh, my apple trees! Their delicate pink-and-white, curled-up, wee buds are opening in the sunshine. These new, little trees thrill me! At a horticulture workshop a few years ago, I was shown how to graft eating-apple stem pieces onto … Read more

It happened suddenly. In my den, I stepped away from my ironing board and lost my balance. Mid-air, I dreaded injuring my already-compromised hip. Almost at the floor, the seat of my pants caught on a plastic projection sticking out from … Read more

It was a very snowy winter. Snow after snow fell, day after day. We lived in a very white world. As spring thaw began, a team of horses pulling a sled suddenly went down so deep beside the winter-packed tracks that they threw snow over … Read more

While I was eating lunch with my sister-in-law and her little lad about three-and-a-half years of age, my sister-in-law's phone rang, and she left the table to answer. Just then, the little lad finished his bowl of spaghetti and cheese, … Read more

When I taught children of Wycliffe Bible Translator personnel in the Peruvian highlands in South America, the children would pick the raisins from their recess snack cookies and drop them into the grass saying that they didn't like … Read more

The young person sat before me and said, "I stole watermelons only once." I don't recall even nodding before the rest of the story came out: A group of us young people went in a car to large fields known for their watermelon patches. … Read more

Cars lined blocks of curbsides as several hundred of us teachers converged at an inner-city school to sit as pupils and hear experts of our profession. I watched closely for a parking spot for my sky-blue Malibu as I drove slowly along a … Read more

When I was a little girl, maybe about three-and-a-half years of age, some of my family and some visiting cousins, children, and adults were on a patch of grassy-green yard just beyond our kitchen doorsteps. It was a beautiful, … Read more

I'm not sure how I came so often to sit beside my grandmother when we had family gatherings. But I remember that sometimes, she'd just quietly beckon me toward herself. Now Grandma always had handwork in her fingers as she sat in her … Read more

"I can't go to visit people when someone close to them has died." Sometimes, the person who utters words like these might fear crying when visiting sorrowing people. Yet, we can remember that God is with us to teach us how to weep with … Read more

Ever since I was a youngster on the platform in our one-room, country school, along with about twelve children of varied ages and grades, I have enjoyed Christmas pageants. At the age of ten or eleven, I was the chosen angel Gabriel, and … Read more