We live by a lake in the northwEsther If we awoke from a twenty-year-long nap, like in the story of Rip Van Winkle, and we didn't know what month it was, we could guess by looking at the lake. Different seasons bring us different wildlife, mostly waterfowl. Canada geese drop in to rest each spring [...]

Are you a morning person? I am an early bird, and I love to start most days with a brisk walk. I greet the people I meet with a “Good morning!” Not everyone answers, and some look downright grumpy. I used to feel offended when people would look the other direction when I smiled at [...]

Humans are flawed, but God is not. Humans mess up, hurt us, or abandon us, but God never will. Humans pretend to love, run out of love, and turn love into hate, but God isn't like that. You are precious to God. He is a perfect Father. He loves you like no other. When humans [...]

Thick and impenetrable silence hung over the village. For as long as the villagers could remember, no one had spoken a word, not even a whisper. A command from an enemy kingdom forbade anyone in the village from uttering a sound. While many villagers had grown accustomed to the forced silence, one girl increasingly found [...]

“Put on” is a phrase we use every day. Because on a daily basis, we do the physical act of putting on clothes and shoes in order to be clothed. Just as we get clothed physically, we also need to get clothed spiritually. In Ephesians 4:24, we learn that, in Christ, we put on a [...]

There was a point in my life when I was so ashamed that I didn't want to associate or talk with people. I had messed up so badly that I didn't see myself as fit to be with others. I was so down that I didn't have the confidence to face people. I thought I [...]

God doesn't despise our brokenness. He doesn't look down on us when we are hurting. He doesn't think less of us because we are broken. God loves the broken. He offers healing to the hurting. God is a comfort in times of trouble and sorrow. God doesn't despise us when we are broken. He is [...]

You have done it all, God You created the sky, the earth You saved me when I was still a sinner You have written my name in heaven You have done it all, God You created goats and pigs You made grass and trees You have made beauty on earth You have done it all, [...]

In the book of Esther, a Jew becomes queen of a gentile (or non-Jewish) nation that stretches from India to Cush (the upper Nile region). This kingdom is headed by King Xerxes. But Esther is not his first queen. The book begins when King Xerxes gives an enormous banquet for all his officials and the [...]

“Jax!” Celine pointed eagerly to her microscope. “Come look at this.” Jax put down the test tube he was holding and walked over to her. Thanks to the artificial gravity in the station, he could move quickly. Outside, where there were no magnetized floors tugging at the flecks of iron embedded in his uniform and [...]