The unexpected blessing came from … well … an unexpected place. "___________ said he would help you move some stuff," the email from the guidance counsellor stated. The student's name stuck in my mind like a fly to flypaper. I had … Read more
No one alive had ever witnessed it. On December 21, 2020, the first day of the winter solstice, two planets, Jupiter and Saturn, aligned so closely that they appeared almost as one, shining so brightly that we could see them with a good … Read more
He stood by the shopping cart and waited. My middle schoolers are known for some interesting prayer requests. If I ran the statistics, most would relate to sports — safe travels, good sportsmanship, the ability to remember moves, no … Read more
I fought the lump growing in my throat. Susie and I had been friends for almost thirty years. Although our lives had taken us in different directions — she settled in the same town that she had grown up in while I left the state for … Read more
Should I or should I not? I had entered the valley of decision. Before one school year, the headmaster sent an email asking which teachers wanted an iPad. Since the school had already given us laptops — and I used mine to portray … Read more
At every game, he armoured up. Our youngest grandson loves T-ball, and once things in our life changed so that my wife and I had a little more free time in the evening, we made plans to attend his final few games. We had seen pictures of … Read more
"Don't you remember?" He didn't. Two years had passed since my son and his family had visited our home. His anger over something that he thought we'd done, but hadn't, boiled. He took his anger out on us by not talking to us or coming to … Read more
She knew what she was doing; I had no idea. My wife and I — along with about one hundred other guests — sat under the large tent at our daughter's wedding reception. Only the wedding had taken place four months earlier, courtesy of … Read more
Only two remained. As I sat on my antique porch glider, I watched as two hummingbirds fought over the lone feeder hanging just outside my den window. Just a few days before, I had cleaned all my feeders, but I put back only one in the … Read more
When announcement time came at the end of our worship service, he proudly proclaimed that he had just celebrated his ninth birthday for the ninth time. John's birth weight registered just shy of two pounds — not necessarily a thing to … Read more