Harvesting wild blackberries is not easy. They ripen in the heat of the summer in places with little shade. If you don’t go out when they are ripe, you won’t find...

When I stop to think about it, one of my favorite psalms can also feel a bit scary. In Psalm 139, David talks about how God sees everything and is everywhere....

During a difficult time in my life I received an insight contained in the reading above from Jeremiah: “‘I know the plans I have for you,’” declares the Lord, ‘plans to...

One day when my daughter Penelope was a toddler, we were hosting a family gathering. Penelope was playing with her cousins in a noisy room, crowded with relatives. Penelope is a...

My mom was the only child born to a 13-year-old single mother in the 1930s. She grew up poor and feeling unloved. My mom was an angry woman who didn’t appear...

Twenty years ago, I had my first real encounter with God. I was 10 years old and in my final year of elementary school. When I took the middle school entrance...

In the springtime, I love to sit outside alone in the early morning chill to sip a mug of hot coffee, read and meditate on The Upper Room message for the...

One time in elementary school I said something mean to a kid in my class. Mike was a tough kid and much bigger than I so I expected that when we...

Two mornings a week I take the bus into town. I find that bus ride an uplifting experience. I am constantly struck by the presence of God in the lives of...

At age 26 and after years of graduate study, I was newly married and beginning my career. I was young, happy, and ambitious. Then after unexplained pain and months of uncertainty,...