Life Lessons
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From Despair to Joy: An Unexpected Journey (Part Two)
Road trips have always been a part of my life. Changing scenery, picnic lunches, and stretch breaks generate mostly happy memories. Each trip usually involved a good measure of planning, the most important being where and when the day’s travel would end. Having that final stopping place chosen ahead of time helped everyone cope with the long hours in the car. Have you have found that true in life as well? Although I know of a few “free-spirits” who relish the spur-of-the-moment adventures, most need to plan. We need to know the plans for the holidays: where we’re going, and who’s cooking what. Yet, if Covid taught us anything, it’s…
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From Despair to Joy: An Unexpected Journey (Part One)
Driving home recently through an unfamiliar area, I realized my GPS could not pick up a signal. Knowing I was headed in the correct direction, I searched for something recognizable. There should be a turn coming. But where? I sure missed that familiar voice telling me, “In four miles, turn right.” I don’t know about you, but I like those little nudges. It reminded me of a time when God whispered in my spirit that a change was coming. My journal entries from that season attest to the promptings of God, through prayer and Bible reading, which led me to understand about an upcoming “turn in the road.” This doesn’t…
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Expect the Unexpected
I knew there was trouble when I saw my son’s phone number calling early in the morning. “I need dad,” he said when I answered. Ah! Must be a car thing. Yep. On his way to student teaching, the accelerator in my son’s car had stuck open. “And I am teaching today and being recorded!” he added. Unable to diagnose the car issue 1,000 miles away, we encouraged our son to seek another mode of transportation and worry about the car later. We hung up and prayers ensued. “God, help him to borrow a car. God, someone must have a car available! Help him find a generous person! Help him…
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Who Will Join Me at the Manger?
Well, here we are – just days from the end of a year that will no doubt go down in history. Already, we laugh/joke/sigh/cry about 2020. Personally, I think I handled the early parts of the lock-down like Wonder Women. Already working from home, I faced the challenges (mostly) with courage, as I believe many of you did. But as the months wore on… and a hurricane hit (our first bad one)… AND then I got the dreaded disease, my strength faltered. Life came to a halt and I entered this holy season, emotionally crawling on my knees with my knuckles dragging in the dirt and my heart struggling to…
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Educators Respond To Covid-19
For educators, Fall brings excitement and anticipation. After Summer’s rest and rejuvenation, and perhaps a little professional development, most welcome a new school year. But this is 2020. Covid-19 obliterated spring lessons plans and now poses more questions than answers for the 2020-2021 school year. Last May, while educators wrapped up a highly unusual semester, I prepared a keynote address for an August Early Childhood Educators conference. Since I did not teach last year, I needed to hear from those emerging from the trenches. So I conducted a survey. Although the event was ultimately cancelled, the information gleaned through the survey proved invaluable with messages worth sharing. This article includes…
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Are You Climbing the Walls?
I do not rock climb. Oh, no. The thought of scaling walls towering above makes my hands sweat just thinking about it. I can’t say I’ve even faced the opportunity. Yet I have faced many a proverbial brick wall, those insurmountable situations that leave you feeling helpless. The “no way out and no way in” circumstances that seem impossible and impassable. Ever been there? Maybe you are at the base of such a wall right now. I recently read a similar scene in Joshua chapter 6. Picture this situation: Verse 1: “Now the gates of Jericho were securely barred. No one went out and no one came in. “…
