Good Reads
Cookies Like Mama Made, Part 1
At 5 AM on a winter morning, I was whistling my way to the barn to tend to our critters when I slipped and fell into an ice puddle. Soaked to the skin and freezing, I slammed through the chores, collected eggs, milked the goat, then shivered to the back porch where I...
Eight-in-one Cookies
All cookies are best hot from the oven, so I mix up this entire batch, divide it into eight, 1-cup sections, make each section into a long roll about 1-inch in diameter, and freeze each roll in separate zipper bags. When I am expecting guests or I feel like baking...
Can You Have Too Much of a Good Thing?
In the Bible, fresh from slavery, the children of Israel reminisced about the good old days of mud brick quotas and "sitting around the fleshpots of Egypt." (I’m taking a leap here, but I picture "sitting around the fleshpots" as Egyptian chariots encircling...
Deadheading the Past
I deadhead my garden almost every day. It keeps my flowers looking great by extending their time in bloom. If I neglect to cut off the spent blossoms, the plant may go dormant or set seed. When I work in the garden, God often reveals truths to me. Last Saturday, as I...
For the Birds
The sun was shining, and birdsongs filled the air. It was time to clean and refill bird feeders. Feeders attract birds I ordinarily wouldn’t see such as cedar waxwings, orioles, all kinds of woodpeckers, and more. Wild bird food can be slim pickings in early spring...
A Tale of Mama Cat and Chicky
We were swimming at a neighbor’s farm pond when we noticed one of his sons carrying something small, black, and fuzzy to the water’s edge. Naturally, we wanted to know what he had. It was a newly hatched bantam rooster. He was planning to drown the little chick....
Sonrise
My mother celebrated Easter in a big way. She could find parallels to the events of Easter at every turn. As soon as new Spring fabrics arrived, Mom would buy a bolt. During dark winter days, she sewed dresses and shirts for all 8 of her children and herself. While it...
Church For Men Opens Its Doors
It may not be inclusive or politically correct, but the unabashed aim of The Grove Church in Peoria, IL, is to attract one hitherto unreached demographic: men. Inspired by David Murrow’s Why Men Hate Going To Church, Murrow and Pastor Mark Doebler freely admit they...
Men In Pews—A New Form of “Affirmative Action”?
You know him. He’s home reading the paper while his wife and children fill a church pew. When the pastor asks for prayer requests, his wife raises her hand and murmurs, “Unspoken.” But everyone knows. She’s been praying their entire marriage for her husband to come to...
Four Tough Questions
Many people have a hunch that the hands on the cosmic clock are pointing at a few minutes to midnight. Movie, television, and book producers are churning out doomsday stories. Even the newest generation is entitled Gen Z. My beloved grandmother, born in 1880, thought...