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Pumpkin Pie, Tolkien, and Family: A Happy Thanksgiving List
Thanksgiving approaches! I find many, many things to thank God for despite the virus raging stronger than ever up here in the Midwest. As I write, the late golden sunlight reflects off the still water of the river that flows by my parent’s condo. The grass still retains some shades of summer green, even though much of the world around it looks bare and brown. I went on a long walk today with my mom, and afterwards Brian and the kids and I played in the sandy park across the street. Life remains unchanged…sometimes, until we go to the grocery store down the street and don our masks and sanitize…
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Remembering How to Fly: A Water Skiing Story
I watched my skis bob in the water a few yards ahead of me. The bright summer sun shone down on the lake and scattered rays of white across the top of the receding wake. My legs shook from all the energy I had just expended gliding across the smooth surface of the water, knees bent and back aching. I gasped for breath and then started laughing and hollering. “Dad, I wiped out!” I yelled over the hum of the motor. I waved my hand in the air as my dad’s gray and red Lund turned in my direction. My son’s happy face poked out from the top of a…
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And the Things of Earth Will Grow…Strangely Bright
I’m going to begin this book review of Strangely Bright, by Joe Rigney, by telling you what depression can feel like. This might be an odd way to begin a book review, but bear with me and you’ll understand by the end–I promise. Sometimes depression feels like a veil hangs between you and the world, muting colors, sights, and sounds. Nothing appears bright; everything seems like its covered in a layer of gray and lifeless dust. Joy becomes a laughable affair when you can’t even see clearly what’s around you. How can you enjoy something that looks just as dingy as everything else? Sometimes depression saps all of your energy…
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The Great Cupcake Stand-off: A Tale of Two Sisters
The last lonely cupcake stood solemnly in the middle of the table. My sister sat at one end of the table and I sat at the other. “Well, I don’t want it,” Missy said. Missy didn’t like cupcakes. Too many carbs, too many calories. All she ate were fruits, vegetables, nuts, seeds, and the occasional whole grain—the diet of a typical woodland creature. Her hair was a mousy shade of brown. She sat across from me as poised and delicate as a butterfly resting on the edge of a flower petal. I felt like a great lumbering bear snuffling through the dirt looking for her next meal. I tried not…
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Big Things and Small Things {New Music Monday}
Here is my very first children’s song. Enjoy! The Music The Words Big Things and Small Things God reigns sovereign over big things,And sovereign over small things,The infinite to the mundane.The stars in all their majestyStretch farther than my eyes can see,Yet He knows me well, He knows me well. I see tiny ecosystems,So small I think He missed ’em,But He tracks each beetle and worm.Overground and underground,What I think is lost is always found.He keeps everything, including me. I see grasses sway in summertimeAnd pumpkins glow in harvest time;Frost visits my windowsill.The birds return with cheerful soundAnd flowers spring up all around.He brings life and growth in seasons and…