When you have a Type A personality — always needing to be doing something — taking a break isn't easy. I've never been one to sit and twiddle my thumbs. Sitting and doing nothing makes me feel lazy. Since I have only so much time in …( read more )

The day appeared calm enough, but the elements soon released their hidden fury. My brother and I — along with my daughter — set out early for a ten-mile hike on the Appalachian Trail. At the five-mile point, we planned to set up camp …( read more )

I turn God into whatever I think of Him. Dad was a harsh disciplinarian — at least when I was young. I'm not sure where his ideas of discipline sprang from, because he didn't copy the pattern of his parents or grandparents. Dad went by …( read more )

What others consider misfits, God often considers fits. My father served as interim pastor for a small, struggling church after he retired. Once a thriving church on the local lake, it now struggled to survive. Dad tried to get them to …( read more )

She had been abused and needed a safe place. Johnnie was in a situation of her own making. For thirteen years, she had endured an abusive marriage — one she had entered merely to be on her own and make her own life. Jim had seemed like …( read more )

I hated school, so I decided to quit. Elementary and middle school, I enjoyed, but when I got to high school, a sudden distaste evolved. By the time I reached my senior year, I'd had all I could take. I had no interest in learning, …( read more )

Sorrow can be a bitter pill to swallow, and I felt as if I were being swallowed by it. Days stretched into months. An act of betrayal by another had turned my family inside out and headed it straight for dissolution. Though the situation …( read more )

Old habits are hard to break. For four years, we lived in a small townhouse. Our Chihuahua, Twix, was accustomed to the way that the doors to the bedroom and the outside opened, and he would stand at the appropriate side of the door to …( read more )

The family gathered around his bed and watched his body jerk and convulse — then fall silent. A work-related accident had disabled Mike many years before. Though he managed to work a few jobs for short periods of time, he couldn't hold …( read more )

He lay almost motionless — a Superman tattoo on his arm. My brother-in-law often kidded that he was Superman. And he had been. He survived things that had killed many people. Though a young man, several heart attacks had damaged his …( read more )

I carried them out by the armload — a seemingly endless task. Our move was complete — except for moving our clothes. Although my wife doesn't buy fancy clothes — nor buy them from expensive stores — she loves new outfits — or at …( read more )

I sat in the ladder-back chair, wondering what I should do and feeling a bit useless. The day prior to our move had arrived, but my wife and I were already at our new residence unpacking boxes — at least, she was. With no Internet or …( read more )

"Where are we going put it? I think we're turning into hoarders." My wife and I have both asked the question and made the statement. Our love for antiques — especially furniture — keeps us adding to our collection and trying to stuff …( read more )

As I grow older, I yearn for the Christmases of my childhood. Being the first grandchild in the family for the first four years of my life meant a great deal of spoiling — by parents and grandparents. Though I don't remember those …( read more )

Thanking God in every circumstance is challenging — some might say impossible. I'm a nostalgic kind of guy. In my mind's eye, I can imagine myself sitting at a table with the early Pilgrims and their Indian neighbours who had shown them …( read more )

"I remember when you used to…" Any time I hear my wife say these words, I know that they will be followed by something that I once did but don't do anymore — things like opening the door for her when she's getting in the car or …( read more )

I had reached the magic number; I knew what the doctor would say. Fifty is the age when physical tests of various sorts begin to take place — one of which I dreaded. When I visited the doctor for a regular checkup, he said, "We need to …( read more )

Conversations in a physician's waiting room can be interesting and run the gamut. As my wife and I sat in the waiting room, waiting for her to be called back for her colonoscopy, we listened to the various conversations. One was between …( read more )

I noticed the handicap van that they drove, and I knew that it was my time to serve. One Saturday morning when my wife and I were in the middle of packing for our move later in the month, we ran out of boxes. She suggested that I stop by …( read more )

The note was attached to the door; the decision had been made. At nine years of age, he was doing what most boys his age did in the summer: romping and playing — until his sister noticed how yellow his eyes were. She ran inside to tell …( read more )

Of all the stores to which my grandfather delivered ice cream, the one where the dog sat on my foot was my favourite. Aside from a few chain pharmacies and gas stations, mom-and-pop stores ran the retail world. Small stores owned by …( read more )

One chose to stay on the farm; the other chose city life. When my mom was a junior in high school, she chose to leave her family farm and marry my dad. Her new life would take her away from her country upbringing and plant her in cities …( read more )

The stories flooded in, and I couldn't help but wonder what God's purpose was. A young man who struggled with epilepsy and other physical issues for his entire life dies in his sleep while having an epileptic episode. His mother finds …( read more )

"Fingerprints all over the place." My oldest grandson called the dirty storm door window to my attention as he and his younger brother stood looking out over the backyard. Of course, he failed to mention that both of them were the reason …( read more )

Pulling cuckaburrows was a new experience for me in farm life. Visiting my maternal grandparents on the farm was always enjoyable. Every day was a new adventure, doing things that I had never experienced in the city. Along with my …( read more )

The peeping alerted me that something was amiss. A mother bluebird had hatched several nestlings in a birdhouse outside my office window. As I worked, I enjoyed hearing their peeps as the mother and father bird made numerous trips to …( read more )

Everybody has a father story, and they run the gamut. I grew up in a traditional family. My father was present, supportive, and loving. Many families aren't as fortunate. Some fathers drink to excess, abuse or run around on their wives, …( read more )

They popped over the tree tops and whizzed along the top of the field. When I was a young lad, crop dusters were common where there was flat farmland. Fields were planted with cotton, corn, and soybeans. Laws preventing certain chemicals …( read more )

Just trust God, and everything will work out for the good. The Porters were college friends with whom we had a common bond: we were both from South Carolina; they also had two small children who were close in age to our two, one of which …( read more )

Forgetting what one needs or wants terribly to remember is a horrible thing. I once chaperoned an eighth-grade trip to Washington DC, USA. Memorials are always high on the list of things to visit because they are constructed to help …( read more )

We hadn't planned on moving again until I retired … but things changed. The landlady was coming to pick up the rent cheque. Finding an affordable place to stay in a safe section of town had been a chore four years previously. We …( read more )

For Hester Prynne in Nathanial Hawthorne's The Scarlet Letter, it was an A; for many others, it is a D. In a puritanical time period, Hester Prynne made the mistake of having a sexual relationship outside of marriage and getting …( read more )

When I heard the chirping, I knew that their mouths were full. After settling into my new position as pastor of a small rural church, I placed a few things on the front porch of the office building, among them a birdhouse. Within a few …( read more )