“Even Christian Boys [Girls] Can Be Sad, Mommy”

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“Even Christian Boys [Girls] Can Be Sad, Mommy”

“Even Christian boys can be sad, Mommy.”

This long-ago heart cry from my then 4-year-old son rings in my ears. As I was tucking him in bed one night, he was feeling very sad because his grandparents, who had been visiting from across the country, had just left. “Yes, Bjorn,” I said. “Even Christian boys can be sad.” Girls, too.

I am writing to tell you all, my Mom to Mom friends and sisters, that this girl is really sad right now. Sadder than I have ever been. The reason (as summarized by our son Lars in a text to the family on the night of November 14, 2021) is this:

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A Tale of Three Chairs

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A Tale of Three Chairs

When I think of my father, three chairs come to mind.

Rather ironic, because my father was one of the busiest, hardest working, most productive people I ever knew. A Bible scholar, college professor, and author who also served as interim pastor in many churches, loved to travel and teach internationally, and, even, for a few years, raised a vegetable garden on the side. Not a person who sat around a lot. But even so, there were three important chairs.

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Audacious Hope

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Audacious Hope

The scent of hope is in the air. We finally turned the calendar to March. More vaccines are coming. A few more kids are going back to school. A few more places are opening. And despite recent windchills here below zero, the weather forecasters keep talking of Spring.

And the season of Lent is upon us. A strange season, in some ways. Dark, but infused with glimmers of light. Painful, yet promising. Bleak, yet not without hints of joy.

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Outrageous Joy: Really?

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Outrageous Joy: Really?

Joy. Are you kidding me right now? You’re talking about joy, in January? In this January? In the midst of a pandemic that just won’t go away, a nation divided by political turmoil and racial unrest, and our personal and family lives upended by virtual schooling, quarantine fever, and just plain “overwhelm”? Amidst all this, joy seems quite unlikely. Even downright outrageous.

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The Darkness Cannot Put It Out

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The Darkness Cannot Put It Out

Sometimes our kids say it best. Recently our 5-year-old grandson Lachteen was asked at family prayers how his family could pray for him. His reply: “Just pray that this year will get over really fast.” In actual fact, Lachteen is having a pretty good year; the context of his answer was the immediate weather in Ireland, i.e., rain inhibiting his outdoor play. But yes, Lachteen, we know the feeling.

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Words from the Heart: Yes, Please!

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Words from the Heart: Yes, Please!

I have always loved Maggie Rowe’s words. When we both had speaking ministries in New England, I tried to attend any presentations she was giving. When she wrote a blog as a local ministry leader, I eagerly awaited her posts. When she and I had the privilege of being members of a small speakers’ group, I got to know her better. And I learned what made her words so true, so encouraging, and so powerful. They were straight from the heart. A very big, very sensitive, endlessly loving heart.

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So Where Is God in All of This?

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So Where Is God in All of This?

This was the exact question a neighbor asked me yesterday as Woody and I were out walking.

Two responses came to my head, though I am not exactly sure what came out of my mouth at the time.

First, He is where He always is—in control, powerful, loving, and sovereign. Of course, that one statement raises all kinds of questions. Lots of “But why does He/doesn’t He . . . ?” So what I think I said to my friend was, “He is totally in control, the God He has always been. Even though I do not know—cannot know—what He is doing.”

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You Never Know . . .

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You Never Know . . .

This Advent Season, for some reason, I feel the mystery of Christmas more than ever. The mystery of the Incarnation. Such an unlikely story. Something, as C. S. Lewis puts it, we could never have guessed. God coming as a baby? Really? Favorite author Frederick Buechner says it best:

“. . . the child born in the night among the beasts . . . and nothing is ever the same again. Those who believe in God can never in a way be sure of Him again. Once they have seen Him in a stable they can never be sure where He will appear or to what lengths He will go or to what ludicrous depths of self-humiliation He will descend in His wild pursuit of man . . .” (Frederick Buechner, The Hungering Dark)

You can never be sure where He will appear. You never know . . .

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“But I’m Not Feeling Very Thankful”

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“But I’m Not Feeling Very Thankful”

Even our children feel it. Watching his dad turn the calendar into November, our six-year-old grandson sighed: “Oh, November. There’s so much to do in November . . . like getting ready for December!” 

The frenzy has begun. At our mall, Christmas carols are playing, stores are frantically replacing Halloween stuff with Christmas glitz, and even Santa himself has arrived. Our mailbox fills with catalogues, and Black Friday sales are already beginning online. Meanwhile, Thanksgiving (what was that, again?) is still over 3 weeks away.

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