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I AM JESUS’ LITTLE LAMB
My love for lambs started as a child when my mom would sing “I Am Jesus’ Little Lamb” to me and my siblings. Then the death of my dad, when I was 10, left me feeling like a lost lamb. Verses like “He gathers the lambs in his arms and carries them close to his heart” (Isaiah 40: 11) brought comfort and enhanced my love for these soft, gentle creatures. Soon a collection of lambs began, including ornaments, mugs, knick-knacks, and plush lambs. When my children were born, lambs and sheep adorned their nursery, and we sang the old hymn at their baptisms. Recently, a wonderful thing happened—a live lamb…
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From Picky Eater to Let’s Eat Lettuce: My Journey with Food
NOTE: Although different from my usual style and topics, this blog is one of great importance. I hope you enjoy a peek into my personal journey with food. If we’ve recently met, you may know I love Jesus, people, and fruits and veggies. If we are better acquainted, you’ve probably witnessed my passion for pizza. But if ours is a life-long friendship, you may be aware of my former (self-imposed) title: Pickiest Eater Ever. No kidding! My childhood menu was limited to grilled cheese, pizza, peanut butter, chocolate shakes, and when I got a tiny bit older, chili dogs (Portillo’s only…extra cheese). No veggies and very little meat. And fruit?…
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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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Passing the Baton
It was the 1950’s. The sport: Track and Field. The event: Men’s Relay. At the last minute, the team was short one man, as the story goes. After already running one leg, our dad dashed across the field and was allowed (don’t ask me why) to run a second. One race, two opportunities to pass the baton. That season secured a place for the team in the school’s hall of fame. That race put our dad there. I never heard this story from his lips. Our mom shared it. His schoolmates told us more about it at the Hall of Fame ceremony. You see, our dad’s life-race was cut short.…
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