Tag: forgiveness

  • Leaves By the Door

    Leaves By the Door

    The custodians at the elementary school where I teach are currently battling leaves. The fallen foliage is on the outside, but it keeps coming in the building—thanks to the ever present Oklahoma wind. At the end of the day, the hallway near pre-kindergarten parent pick up looks like this. Our little leaf litter problem even…

  • Peace by Piece

    Peace by Piece

    For three years, Matsuko longed to return to the farm, near Salinas, California, where her husband Hayato’s family had grown strawberries for three generations. It was home. During the Second World War, she and her family were among the many Japanese Americans forcibly interred in camps. Finally, the war ended and the Nakamura family returned.…

  • Lord, Let Your Light Shine!

    Lord, Let Your Light Shine!

    Even a casual Christian glance at the state of our world today can cause despair. I find myself asking, along with King David, “When the foundations are being destroyed, what can the righteous do?” Psalm 11:3 (NIV) You can tell by my title where this is headed. The Psalmist answers his own question soon enough:…

  • Please Read if You’re From Earth

    A few weeks ago I shared in a post, Kid Shoes, how I love to joke with young children at my school. It’s fun, for instance, to ask four-year- olds if I can try on their shoes. The look on little faces, as they consider this request, is priceless. However, if I ask an eight-year-old…

  • Too Many Snaps

    Too Many Snaps

    A few Saturdays ago, Nancy and I visited a local farmer’s market. There wasn’t much produce to speak of, this late in the year, but I was delighted to find someone shelling black-eyed peas! Instantly, I went back to my boyhood, sitting on a farmhouse porch with my grandmother. We both had a bucket of…

  • He Gives More Grace

    This past week at summer school, a first grader, I’ll call him Chris, read a book to me. Chris is working hard to learn his consonant blends and diagraphs. The hi-lighted word is an example. When Chris sees the “sh” that starts the word shape, he’s still learning to put the sound of s and…