Mary received a greeting of grace, a deeply troubling message, and an encouraging word--all at once.

Play to listen How beautiful on the mountains are the feet of those who bring good news, who proclaim peace, who bring good tidings, who...

“I just don’t understand.” I uttered those words dozens of times, those closing months of 2021. But who could count? (Except possibly my...

I don’t know your reaction to a video clip of a mud slide or an avalanche. But for me, it’s sheer horror! To have the ground upon which...

Where do you want to go when bad things happen? That place for me is home. When the day has been rough, and you feel a bit beaten up by...

They say repetition is a good thing. I wouldn’t necessarily disagree with that statement. But there are conditions . . . limits....

Have you ever had a significant task at hand, but you suddenly hit an obstacle? Try as you might, you just couldn’t seem to make any...

I am in the process of dismantling my house. I say “house” because it no longer resembles the home I assembled those many years ago. It’s...

Occupied by many challenges, what was it young Timothy needed to know most? The urging of his mentor likely mimicked what Paul himself...

I had recently been digging through decades of family memorabilia and came across several of my old journals. And since I wasn’t in any...

Art: Hans Holbein the Younger, 1524 As our reflections upon the last days of the Lord’s passion week progress, we move from the intimate...

During an early morning Bible read, a particular morsel captured my attention. But it doesn’t lie within a verse to be referred to. It’s...

A tree that stood in my backyard seemed fine to the naked eye. But it was faulty . . . weak . . . vulnerable. It was plagued on the...

I could not get to the shower quick enough—but I hardly had it in me to scale the stairs. It had been one of those days at work. Instead...

August is slowly limping along, isn’t it? And the week ahead is crammed full of troubles of its own. Corona is not going away. Fires rage...

I hear their voices still ringing in my ears: “Don’t waste it.” That it can represent anything good; like, food, money, health . . ....

I remember what it was like trying to teach my children how to walk. I’d ease them up onto wobbly legs—gently holding and guiding them...

I learned to drive in Michigan—which means I learned how to drive in the snow. I also learned what it means to lose control of the car on...

Everybody I know feels stuck. Life seems to be on hold. We can’t move forward. And we can’t go back. We tarry here in the in-between....

Living alone has its ups and its downs. And the downs fell hard last week. With the whole sheltering-in-place in isolation, plus being...