(ROCKWALL, TX — June 4, 2018) The feeling of independence was a heady thing for me on the day I drove my own car back to college for the first time. Two hours into the journey, I left both the freeway and the summer heat behind as I headed into the cooler elevation of the […]
(ROCKWALL, TX — May 1, 2018) An Albuquerque police officer found himself in an unsought limelight last fall. The story of Ryan Holets’ intervention in the lives of a homeless couple appeared on CNN, The Today Show, and many smaller media outlets. Those who missed the uplifting report may have seen the 27-year-old during the […]
The voice of the Lord is over the waters… —Psalm 29:3 (ROCKWALL, TX — April 6, 2018) An awful image flashed before me like a snapshot, waking me in the middle of the night. Immediately, I left my sleeping husband and headed to our 17-year-old’s unoccupied room. In the darkness, I climbed into the empty […]
(ROCKWALL, TX — March 5, 2018) The phone rang as I sat proof-reading articles in the office of a Christian monthly in San Antonio. I only knew the caller, Martha Fanning, as the wife of the locally well-known pastor Buckner Fanning. She wanted to ask about publishing a personal faith story she had shared at […]
(ROCKWALL, TX — February 9, 2018) When the phenomenon known as American Idol returns to the airwaves in March, hopeful contestants from across the country will set themselves up for either the world’s approval or something much less. Millions of viewers will see some gifted young singers rise to become shining stars while the much […]
(ROCKWALL, TX — November 29, 2017) It’s my favorite holiday, though I don’t observe it well. Maybe I could be excused for still trying to get Christmas right since it only comes once a year, or, maybe not, since I’ve had plenty of years to practice. One of my challenges is gift-giving because I’ve never […]
(ROCKWALL, TX — October 30, 2017) She leaps and she spins. And the rest of us try to keep up with her. I was somewhat petrified before meeting Raina. Not scared stiff—just stiff. Now, a decade later, I’m thankful for the years of attending her cardio-exercise classes at a local gym. Her dance routines, which […]
(ROCKWALL, TX — September 29, 2017) Much of North America embraced peace and harmony in late August. Our socio-political cacophony took a mid-day break as citizens—Alt-Right, Alt-Left, and the greater numbers in between—stood in unified wonder over a heavenly phenomenon. Some people travelled hundreds of miles to view the Great American Eclipse of 2017 from […]
(ROCKWALL, TX — August 30, 2017) It may not be the biggest Bible study in town—yet. Community Bible Study (CBS) came to Rockwall quietly last summer when three women formed a pilot group for the nationally-known study. Attendees began meeting at Kathie Lunsford’s house in June, 2016. The Rockwall resident and her husband moved here […]
(ROCKWALL, TX — August 2, 2017) Some 10 years after a devastating earthquake off the coast of Peru, a missionary family visited the site of what had been the town of Yungay. They walked across a vast plain, now a national cemetery, that covered the remains of homes, stores, buses, and bicycles—18 feet beneath them. […]