The first time I saw it was in 1980. Stamped with a singular Chinese character, I recognized its meaning from the triangular yellow sign. “Yield,” I said aloud, pleased with my first translation of the ten-week trip. Eight years later, I found this same character on a page in my language school textbook. “讓 (ràng) — to let, allow, offer, or permit,” the author …
Riding in the back of a Taiwanese ambulance is not for the faint of heart. Especially if it lasts for three hours. Only the night before, my 17-year-old daughter experienced her first ambulance ride from an accident site to the small, rural hospital in Kenting. She and her friend, Kristen, had been in a scooter incident on the streets of this village resort …
By: Shea Politte Last fall, after a big freeze, there were more birds than ever all over our front yard. After the temps dropped drastically the week before, my pretty fall pumpkins got soft and mushy. I was headed out of town, so I asked my boys to trash the pumpkins while I was gone. They strategically dropped one pumpkin …
O Father, Why are the nations in an uproar and the people devising a vain thing? (Psalm 2:1) As predicted, the rulers and influencers are counseling together against Your truth and light (Psalm 2:2). None of this surprises You for this is the same battle that has raged since before time began. The world forces of darkness and the spiritual …
“May I set the topic today?” Here between the morning light and my first cup of coffee, the Spirit arrested me and gave me pause. “You know I love to hear your heart,” He continued. “Your highs and lows, your hopes and anxieties. But We have covered this particular ground already, haven’t we? We’ve talked about these fears extensively over …
“You came from tough stock,” my Mama always said, and I would ponder just what lineage she was referring to. I knew about livestock in our field and the tree stock used in grafting, but I recognized she meant neither. When I asked, she always pointed to photos of grim people on shabby porches surrounded by acres and acres of …
As she stared at the eBay site, the antique shop owner pondered how to value the weathered baseball card. Seventy-two-year-old Bernice Gallego had never heard of the team, so assigning a value to the Cincinnati Red Stocking B. B. Club was near impossible. Ten dollars was the minimum bid, so she chose that valuation and dismissed it in her mind. …
“I recognized the spirit of fear from my experiences in Asia. Massive and arrogant, he boldly swaggered through my mind’s eye, even while our little group prayed fervently for our world. As I watched, he suddenly began to shrink, smaller and smaller, until he became microscopic. Suddenly, a single, diseased cell appeared in the scene, and this spirit of fear …
By: Carrie Vipperman “And I, when I came to you, brothers, did not come proclaiming to you the testimony of God with lofty speech or wisdom. For I decided to know nothing among you except Jesus Christ and him crucified. And I was with you in weakness and in fear and much trembling, and my speech and my message were …
By Amanda Taylor Walker Everyone has a COVID-19 story, and I am no exception. In December, my husband and I began planning an epic trip for me to visit some friends living in Central Asia and the Middle East. The planning worked out perfectly. Two weeks before I was supposed to leave, my Central Asian friends called to tell me …
