Judy’s Terrible Wonderful Afternoon

“The beauty and order of nature are not gratuitous. The tapestry does not exist for its own sake, just to be admired. Its grit and grandeur has a purpose. The
prettiness has a point. Nature is, as Psalm 19 says in
the King James Version, God’s ‘handiwork.’ It has
God’s fingerprints all over it. John Calvin called
creation ‘the [...]

Soundtrack

Praise him with the sound of the trumpet: 
    praise him with the psaltery and harp.
Praise him with the timbrel and dance: 
    praise him with stringed instruments and organs.
Praise him upon the loud cymbals: 
     praise him upon the high sounding cymbals.
                                                         Psalm 150:3-5 (KJV)
When I was in high school, it seemed as if everyone played the guitar. Except me. [...]

The Shoes of a Poet’s Wife

 “In the main, Christians do not have an abstract, philosophical concept of God; rather, they understand God primarily through the stories in
the Bible….”
                                                                           Thomas Long
                                                                           Testimony
On a beautiful fall morning in my town, I went over to a local church that was hosting a worship workshop. I was only able to stay for awhile, because I wanted [...]

No Water in the Lake

 “When, a few years later, I stumbled across that Benedictine monastery, I found worship that was far more accessible and refreshing. The monks, it
seemed, were in less of a hurry, less frantic to fill
the air with a quantity of words.”
                                                                      Kathleen Norris
                                                                      Amazing Grace
 ”How does one keep on being creative?” That was the first question. [...]

Introduction - Dr. Bastian’s Heaven

“Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I am fully known.”
                                                              I Corinthians 13:12
When I was in graduate school, I traveled to northern Wisconsin and met the great American theatre director Paul Sills. Sills was the founding director of Chicago’s improvisational theatre, The Second City. Even though Sills is unknown outside [...]

Table of Contents - a glimpse of what’s to come

INTRODUCTION  
    Dr. Bastian’s Heaven
PURPOSE   
    What Mother Teresa told the Actress 
    The Cut 
STORY  
    Magic Hope      
    The True Story at the Back of the Bus    
    The Invisible Story 
    E-Mail: Unclaimed Diamonds   
    Jeannette Says Yes     
    The Best Missionary Slide Show I Ever Saw                   
    Picturing God       
    Wade Nearly Kills Himself      
    The Shoes of a Poet’s Wife      
    No Regard [...]