Don’t We All Need a Little Enthusiastic Encouragement Sometimes? (1 minute, 23 seconds) The well-known musical film “The Greatest Showman,” released in 2017, was almost never produced. This film struggled to get “greenlit”—a term in the film industry meaning receiving permission to proceed with a project. After a whopping nine…
Lemonade From Lemons
(1 minute, 31 seconds) Jan Karon taught me how to make real-deal lemonade from scratch. Her recipe for lemonade is to die for: freshly squeezed lemon juice, lots of purified, clean water, and a little sugar that is first cooked into a syrup on the stovetop. You’ll never go back…
Because He Is Merciful
(2 minutes, 19 seconds) I first heard classical music in Music Appreciation 101 at UW-La Crosse. From the first mesmerizing notes of Pachelbel’s Canon in D, I was smitten and decided that whenever Prince Charming came along and we got married, I had to walk down the aisle to it…
Get Back Up Again!
(1 minute, 34 seconds) I love the God-enabled tenacity of the apostle Paul. Reading an account in Acts 14 kindled a fire in my heart as I returned for an epic hike in the Grand Canyon. I read in Acts 14:19 that Paul’s enemies stoned him, perceived him as dead,…
Lift Her Chin: The Heart of Biblical Mentoring
(1 minute, 31 seconds) I met consistently with a thoughtful, tender-hearted, teachable sister in Christ for about three years. Fourteen years younger than me but a lover of Jesus for longer, she often introduced me as her mentor. The fact is, I will always believe she mentored me more than…
What Will We Wear to the Party?
My phone was abuzz one day last December with texts from my children asking what to wear for a concert we were all attending the following evening. Our eldest, a spiffy dresser since he was four, said I should inform his brothers that he was wearing a sports jacket and…
The Prayer That Always Fails
(1 minute, 54 seconds) I forgive you if you’ve never read At Home In Mitford. I’m just saying that you’ve been missing out. The protagonist, Father Tim, and his neighbor, Cynthia, who live in the fictional village of Mitford have cast spells on me that cannot be undone. One morning…
Do Not Lose Heart
(APRIL 11-17, 1970)(1 minute, 56 seconds) In April 1970, fifty-five years ago, three American astronauts aboard Apollo 13 were happily and confidently mission-bound for the moon. They found themselves suddenly sideswiped by catastrophic damage to their spaceship, and in an instant their mission became one of survival: getting back to…
Jesus Blood, Shed for Me
(1 minute, 38 seconds) One time, a kid doing donuts in a gravel parking lot kicked up rocks and shattered the back window of our SUV. The kid drove away fast. We went home with the heat on.Once, I threw a plate on the floor in anger and it shattered….
The Painter’s Prerogative
(1 minute 10 seconds) My artist friend Jane transforms blank canvases into splendor. It was my joy to tour one of her galleries recently with her as my personal guide, where I discovered the quiet power of seeing art through its creator’s eyes. I walked beside Jane in awe as…