This is my Father’s world. I did not ask to be here. I cannot choose to be in another world. This is it and I may as well make the best of it. I am made in my Father’s image. Even though I am earthly, like the animals, with all the capacity for savagery that … Continue reading Reality
love
A time to learn
Suddenly, almost unexpectedly, we were parents. We placed our baby into the blanket lined oval laundry basket on the seat between us and drove home. Up to this point we had thought we knew all about how to raise a child. What we really had were strong ideas about the mistakes our parents had made … Continue reading A time to learn
And then we were three
“Herb and Hilda are applying to adopt a baby,” Chris announced one day. Herb and Hilda were a young couple around our age in the Lowe Farm church. That simple bit of news started wheels turning in our minds. We wanted a family and so far there was no sign of that happening. Adoption had … Continue reading And then we were three
Memories of a Bridge Builder
My mother was born to a family that spoke Plautdietsch at home and German in church. Those languages, sometimes called Low German and High German, were meant to be a protective wall, preventing folks of that heritage from feeling at home with the people around them. They also served to exclude the people around them … Continue reading Memories of a Bridge Builder
Fire Road – a book review
FIRE ROAD - The Napalm Girl's Journey through the Horrors of War to Faith, Forgiveness and Peace, by Kim Phúc Phan Thi. June 8, 1972, a nine-year-old girl had the clothes burned off her back by napalm during the Vietnam war. The photo taken by AP photographer Nick Ut won him a Pulitzer Prize and … Continue reading Fire Road – a book review
Can there be peace in Babylon?
Jerusalem had been destroyed and the Jewish people carried away as captives to Babylon. There were prophets among them telling them that God was soon going to set things right, punish the horrible people of Babylon and bring them back to their own land. Jeremiah sent a letter to the Jews in Babylon, saying essentially, … Continue reading Can there be peace in Babylon?
Looking for real Mennonites
All I learned about Mennonites while I was growing up was that my mother had been one and had left because the German language was more important than the faith and that my grandma, a dear sweet old lady, was one and wanted me to learn German so I could be a Christian. Perhaps there … Continue reading Looking for real Mennonites
Is there any hope?
So many people want to save humanity. What do we need to be saved from? Who really knows? Is it the one who talks the loudest? Why does that person tell us it is a crime to allow those who disagrees with him to talk about their ideas? Is there any hope? The Bible tells … Continue reading Is there any hope?
The breaking point
Dad and I had never been close; fear of his impatience and anger made me keep a safe distance. As I grew up the gulf between us widened and neither of us knew how to bridge it. One Sunday in June of 1959 we were on our way home from church. I was driving, Mom … Continue reading The breaking point
Jesus as agent provocateur
Doesn’t it appear that Jesus deliberately did things that he knew would provoke the Pharisees to reveal their lack of compassion? Jesus healed many people of their blindness; in some cases he touched their eyes, in other cases there was no physical contact, he simply declared them healed and they were. Why then did he … Continue reading Jesus as agent provocateur
Flatlander Faith 