Church Wounds

by Wendy Speake | | 3 comments

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My earliest memories of being taught from the Bible include Ruth Gosting. Her flannel board stories were the building blocks of my young faith. Ruth was the director of the children’s ministry at Bel Air Presbyterian Church in the late seventies. On Sunday mornings my friends and I played games, sang the books of the Bible, and listened to Ruth’s Bible stories. She had an animated, high-pitched voice that was full of inflection and wonder. Her eyes were always wide open, as if she were perpetually surprised. Every time she saw me, she exclaimed, “Oh, Wendy, I’m so glad you’re here!” And she was. And so was I.

I loved church because I was loved at church, and the

When Fear Taunts You, Do This

by Katy McCown | | 5 comments

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I crouched behind a wall in my living room, peeking out only for a few seconds at a time. I didn’t really want to keep watching, but for some reason I couldn’t stop.

A real-life tightrope walker dared to cross a gorge near the Grand Canyon on live television. I didn’t know this man from Adam, but my fear for him and his potential plummet to the bottom of the canyon was real. With each step he took I prayed, please God let him make it across!

The wind blew so hard at times he stopped and crouched down on the rope to lower himself beneath the gusts. He would pause and pray then stand up and continue across.

Yet quite

Knocked Down by Words

by Sharon Jaynes | | 2 comments

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Have you ever felt like someone just knocked you over with words…not caring how it made you feel? I know I have. One day my Golden Retriever showed me just how it’s done.

Shortly after we had planted a maple tree in our backyard, we went on vacation. It was the first time we had left Ginger, our Golden Retriever, home alone. A neighbor fed and watched out for her while we were away. On the second day of our trip, I called Cathy to see how Ginger was doing.

“Well, Ginger’s fine,” Cathy reported. “But you know that tree you planted last week? She dug it up!”

“She did what!” I exclaimed.

“She dug it up. The tree’s lying in the

The Danger of Judging People

by Kelly Balarie | | 6 comments

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Who pulls in a car like this? What are they thinking? What is wrong with them?

The people maneuvered their car an inch away from mine! Who does that? Not only did they pull close, but they pulled in horizontal to the front of my car, leaving me almost zero ease at inching out of the car line at my kid’s school.

I lifted my head and craned my neck. Who in the world would do such a thing?!

I began to formulate a mental script of who they were based on what they did. These are the sorts of people who do that.

Friends? As embarrassing as it is to say, that was me, yesterday morning. It’s horrible, I know.