Autumn, blessed autumn.  If I could, I would gather in the earthy smell of the wet leaves while embracing their unique colors as they pirouette gracefully to the ground.  I’d take endless walks in the crisp, invigorating morning dews and damps giving relief to frosty fingers with my warm breath.  ...

A child of the 70s, the worn-out phrase “I need to find myself,” makes me cringe. Yet in those words—often used to justify selfishness and indulge in sin—lies a truth we cannot deny. It is a truth we do not want to deny for the doorway to finding ourselves is ...

There are many programs on television that feature house makeovers. An older house or one that is in poor condition is completely restored. People go to great expense to have this done, sometimes exceeding their budget to have it just the way they want it. In reference to this the ...

Have you read any good books lately? When you walk into a library you like to be able to choose books to your liking. If a book is contrary to your tastes or it contains material you consider bad, you leave it on the shelf. That’s pretty simple, wouldn’t you ...

Eyes downcast and filled with barely suppressed tears, shoulders stooped as if carrying the weight of the world upon them, mind filled with turmoil and fear.  Where are you, God?  Do you even care?  I am beyond tempted to fear evil – way beyond.  I am no longer walking through ...

With merely a wave of His mighty hand, He paints the sky in glorious colors, as the sun goes down and as it comes up.  He whispers to the rose, and she blooms with beauty and grace.  He rolls the rivers slowly across the hillsides and farmlands, to water the ...

Often, a variety of overused words become quite common, causing them to lose depth and rich meaning. Take for instance ‘kept’. It’s believed we get the word ‘kept’ from an ascended overlook building during the European Middle Ages. Fourteenth century scholars considered ‘the keep’ a necessary stronghold used in wartime ...

The “prosperity gospel” is a trend in many churches, especially some of the mega-churches, that suggests a person may become wealthy in one of two ways. The first is strictly through faith in God and His desire to make the individual wealthy. Failure to achieve wealth means you simply didn’t ...

Tam-tam-tah-daaah… Tam-tam-tah-daah… “Here comes the bride…here comes the bride.” So sings the familiar tune that ushers in the bride at most weddings. As the bride approaches, the groom waits patiently—sometimes nervously. Nevertheless, the marriage knot is tie thus uniting the two as one. Then the plot thickens. Those two, the ...

In today’s technology-driven culture, it’s good to unplug and take the kids for an afternoon play date, at the park. Away from the allure of the fantasy worlds programmed into the Wii and X-Box game systems, children still manage to enjoy the simplicities of playground slides, merry-go-rounds, swings and monkey-bars. ...