My earliest memory is of the beach. I am about two or three, and my pant legs have been rolled up so they won’t get wet. My mom and dad, still married, both stand watch as a small wave crashes, and the bubbles creep up to my feet. I giggle for a minute as the…
Have you ever read a familiar passage of Scripture and felt like you’re reading it for the first time? For me, that passage recently was Deuteronomy 31:9-13: “So Moses wrote this Law and gave it to the religious leaders, the sons of Levi who carried the special box of the Law of the Lord, and…
Standing tall on my tired feet, I grinned into the candlelit mirror. There in my dark bathroom, I could feel freedom welling in me as I reflected on how the flame held close to my chest rendered the shadows behind me insignificant. Have you ever felt as though your lineage casts dark shadows behind you, shadows you cannot…
“And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us.” ~John 1:14 ESV One of my favorite movies of all time is Sleepless in Seattle. Sam Baldwin is a widowed father whose eight-year-old son calls a radio talk show on Christmas Eve on his behalf. Annie Reed is listening. Hearing about the deep love Sam had for his…
A newborn baby inspires hope. The earthy, metallic smell of birth mixes with the sweetness of Johnson & Johnson’s. It reaches your heart through your nose. A smile tickles your lips as you start to talk in a silly voice you wouldn’t dare use in an adult conversation. Babies are a phenomenon of hope and…
In those days Caesar Augustus issued a decree that a census should be taken of the entire Roman world. (This was the first census that took place while Quirinius was governor of Syria.) And everyone went to their own town to register. So Joseph also went up from the town of Nazareth in Galilee to Judea, to Bethlehem the town…