He hangs yellow ribbons. This farmer of mine. He texts the college girl on her way home. She's on a bus headed our way. "He'll tie a yellow ribbon round the Old Oak Tree." She needs to look up the lyrics. You tube will show her what her parents have neglected. We pull into the driveway. There are yellow ribbons. I wonder at it. Had I missed these before I left. She gradually unfolds the story. I marvel at the gesture. Yellow ribbons and a song to welcome his daughter home. His quiet ... View Post
I Will Trust You, Part II, Even in the Desert
The Israelites were asked to trust. To trust God to take them out of a land. To bring them to a land flowing with milk and honey. The problem was. . . They needed to go through the desert first. The barren, harsh, desert. For forty years they wandered. Forty years they waited to see the land promised. For most of those who left Egypt, they never lived to see the Promise. Are you in a desert place? During these desert times, God is ever present. As the Israelite's traveled they were hemmed in by fire and ... View Post
When the Missing is Deep
Hi Elijah. I miss you so much. They are coming out with a new Star Wars movie. The products are all over the place. It's been so fun to look - at all the stuff. To remember when I was a kid. But then. . . I got to the Lego aisle. And I still can't stop the racking sobs. They threaten to undo me. Our last Christmas together you got a Star Wars Lego kit. You were a Senior in High School. Enlisted in the United States Marine Corps. Yet the one item you pulled yourself away from the family for was, a lego ... View Post
When Your Heart Is Breaking, Can You Still Sing, “Gloria In Excelsis Deo”?
4 years. 4 roses. 2 of those anniversaries were celebrated with romance and promises; dreams and a future. 2 of them have been celebrated with her bringing the roses; to the cold hard earth. No reciprocation. No warmth. Silence. Heart breaking, heart wrenching quiet. The dreams and hopes never to be. A life, a love; silenced. And we are learning how to live without. We're learning how to step a foot in front of the other without a part of who we are. Our family looks different. The family ... View Post
Even In Our Darkest Moments We Still Carried Hope
A kid jumps off a bridge. A woman commits suicide; a teacher, wife, mother. Another student in my hometown takes his life. And I can't make sense of this world. Why one who wanted to live is gone and these that don't want to live take their own life. It all swims around in my head and my heart feels like it wants to burst. I can't imagine what it must feel like to have no hope; to not want to live. Because even in my darkest moments, when the grief was overbearing and the pieces of my shattered heart were scattered everywhere as my son left this ... View Post
Too Many Spoons
I put one back. 7 spoons. It's a habit. How do you "uncount"? How do you break a habit. They say it takes 30 days to create a habit. It's been 14 months. And setting 7 places at the table still seems natural. I set one spoon back in the drawer. I breath deep. I think of the habits I have established over the past 14 months. My time in the Word is deep. I search for meaning. Truth. Help for this weary heart. I want to know. That it counts for something. That the life given. Taken. Somehow has meaning. It's our search for ... View Post
