It all happened on one truly unremarkable day. Over the course of this single day, multiple areas of my life were impacted by…stuff. I call it the fateful five.

First, we learned our daughter-in-law would lose her position at our church at the end of her upcoming maternity leave. Then, my claim to return over $10,000 stolen from my HSA was denied because they believed my email was “compromised”. Adding to that, I learned that I’d lost a major project at work that I’d been diligently chasing for almost 8-months. Next, we were served with an adverse possession claim by our neighbor due to us wanting to put a fence along our boundary line. Finally, our daughter spiraled deeply into her substance abuse. All in one day.

One of the most terrifying experiences of my life was when my daughter was about eleven years old.  We’d gone to the ocean for our annual mother-daughter weekend.  It was a cold, grey morning in late February with spitting rain.  The beach was practically deserted.  As usual, I left my cell phone in the hotel room while we took our walk.  Up ahead was a half-buried log, easily 20-feet long by 3-feet wide.  It was near the shore, so we climbed on top to gain a better vantage point for watching the waves as the tide rolled in.  Surely, this monstrous log was safe…

Wading through taxes is one of the most confusing things I have ever done in my life. I am overwhelmed. Not just your regular everyday “married-filing-jointly” federal taxes, mind you. That is easy, compared to…this! Starting a small business is not for the fainthearted. After numerous calls to different agencies, I finally figured out city, state and county forms and processes. Check, check, check! But, federal? Ouch. One publication references six others, each with varying nuances and rules. Woven throughout are accounting terms an engineer doesn’t use on a regular (or ever) basis.

My last blog was subtitled “Part I” in the art of listening. It explored ways we can hear God more clearly, and encouraged us to remember that God hears us, always. But that is only the first half of the equation. The second half deals with what we do with what we have heard.

As I searched for images that would match this topic, I looked at a number of key words. Yet the images that popped up, time and time again, had to do with dogs and their trainers. That wasn’t what I was looking for – or was it?

Spend any amount of time near a playground and you will invariably hear a cry of “MOM!!” or “DAD!!”. Sometimes, it’s accompanied by tears. Sometimes, it’s an urgent cry for help or because there is a skinned knee. Other times it’s a call to look, even if it’s the zillionth time you’ve seen them go down the same slide.

It is rare for a single cry to cause every head to turn toward a particular child. Rather, parents have an uncanny ability to hear their own child amid a cacophony of competing voices.

Hurry or we’ll be late!

It was Saturday morning, and my daughter and I were heading to church to attend the annual women’s Christmas program. I wanted to get there early.

Due to COVID-19, it had been two years since our church had hosted this event and I was excited to attend the “Parade of Tables” before the program began. Yet here I was. Sitting in my car. Waiting for my daughter. Again.

A Walk on the Wild Side

When my daughter-in-law asked me to walk a labyrinth with her, my response was an immediate, “okay…?” followed almost simultaneously by the thought, “uh-oh, is this New Age cult stuff?” She explained that labyrinths have existed for thousands of years and have been used by the church for meditation since the early 4th century A.D. So I figured…why not try?!

Who am I …and What in the World Have I Gotten Myself Into?

Several years ago, I clearly heard God telling me to write a book. The only thing I knew about writing is that you are supposed to write about what you know. So, I wrote a book on leadership and how God calls each of us to be a leader exactly where He has placed us. To me, it was a matter of obedience. Will I do what He asks regardless of how crazy it may seem at the time?