The most devastating wildfire in California, a state of many wildfires, is still raging near where my brother Larry lives. It’s “the most” in every way—acres burned, houses destroyed, lives lost. “Camp Fire” sounds cozy and idyllic until it’s the name of such a fire. It’s now, since it began Thursday morning, only 30% contained. … [Read more…]
When I am in distress, I turn to Psalms. (“Palms,” as my friend Valerie persists in saying.) David and the others who wrote Psalms had all the ups and downs that we have today. Feeling vengeful? You can find a Psalm to relate to. 4 May those who seek my life be disgraced and put to shame; … [Read more…]
We all have favorite Bible verses, but do you have certain books of the Bible that you turn to for specific needs? One of my favorite books is Proverbs. Such wisdom, so well expressed. Proverbs 22 is a chapter that abounds with incisive sayings. A well-known verse is the first one in that chapter: “A … [Read more…]
It’s interesting when summer itineraries collide in unexpected ways. The only vacation we planned for this summer was to go to New England in mid-September—after school started and before tourists seeking fall color invaded. We flew into and out of Boston, driving up the Maine coast, across Maine and New Hampshire into Vermont, down Vermont … [Read more…]
Remember how you feel when you visit someone whose house smells like your grandmother’s house smelled? Or you see those crocheted doilies and immediately you’re back in your childhood? That’s kind of the way I felt on Sunday. We were traveling through Quechee, Vermont, watching for a church to stop at. We knew Churches of … [Read more…]
Life with Steve Boyd is always interesting, so I decided to share a couple of examples. Today we unexpectedly had a chance to eat out after church, so we went back to Veracruz, an excellent, relatively new, Mexican restaurant in Price Hill of Cincinnati. A Hispanic family came in soon after us, verifying to us … [Read more…]
As you know, if you’ve been reading my blog very long, I have no theme. I don’t stick to writing about words and nature, as does my friend Kenda Turner. I don’t write about travel, as does my daughter-in-law, Gina Boyd. I don’t have the deep spiritual insights of my friend Connie Huddleston. I don’t … [Read more…]
When I tell people I’m going to a Christian writers’ conference, they often ask, “What on earth is that?” Of course I think it’s pretty self-explanatory, but I explain about meeting with editors, agents, and other writers, having sessions on improving our writing, and actively learning from people who write or hire writers. But the … [Read more…]
Remember Jesus’ response to a question? “When did we see you sick or in prison and go to visit you?’ “The King will reply, ‘Truly I tell you, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers and sisters of mine, you did for me.’” (Matthew 25:39-40) As a child, I worried a … [Read more…]
Throughout my lifetime, we have used cardboard boxes for storage and transporting. We think nothing of the origin of those, usually corrugated, sturdy boxes. But last week I realized that it wasn’t that common even as recently as my mother’s early life in the forties. My aunt Deba gave me this stool, made from a … [Read more…]
