What Kids Need: Moms in Prayer

ROCKWALL/HEATH, TX (Jan. 26, 2015) We hover over our children as they start school, and we might do it all over again—with more restraint—as they move up to middle and high school. Then again, we get anxious as they go off to college, career or marriage. And just when we begin to relax about their well-being, […]

God’s not-so-random acts

ROCKWALL/HEATH, TX (Jan. 26, 2015) A friend of mine has experienced God’s very present help in trouble. But after seeing so many signs, she might have a problem getting people to believe her. The past few years have been filled with sorrow for Ann’s family. Her husband faced a business calamity that hung over their […]

On Habitats and Habits

ROCKWALL/HEATH, TX (Jan. 1, 2015) My family survived the summer of the arachnids. First there were ticks. Not a few ticks on our dogs but a full-on invasion into our house. By summer’s end, tired of drowning more than 100 ticks per day and making constant trips to the sink or toilet, we set up […]

Lost in the Holiday Shuffle ~ Grandma’s Christmas Birthday

ROCKWALL/HEATH, TX (Dec. 21, 2014) The Christmas tree of my childhood held 1960’s ornaments—silver orbs with spikes and color-filled depressions. We threw on strips of foil “icicles” and pronounced it good. Maybe that’s why our late-December visits to the grandparents’ house felt like arriving at Disneyland. Grandma loved to decorate at Christmastime. She adorned the […]

Thankful – to be or not to be

ROCKWALL, TX (Nov. 26, 2014) The American holiday we call Thanksgiving is filled with concepts that seem, for many, to originate from a land long ago and far, far away. The idea of humbling oneself before a higher being and expressing gratitude is rapidly becoming an extinct dinosaur, laid on the ash heap along with […]

The Last Well: Answering a Threat More Deadly Than Ebola

ROCKWALL, TX (November 13, 2014) Todd Phillips spent the last day of July watching a country shut down. Government offices and schools closed; stores and marketplaces emptied. The Ebola outbreak had turned parts ofLiberiainto ghost towns—practically overnight. Dr. Phillips, of Rockwall County, is Executive Director of The Last Well, a ministry that provides clean water […]

Debunking superstitions

Debunking superstitions

By faith writer Patti Richter ROCKWALL/HEATH, TX (October 9, 2014) Some magicians observe a strange tradition on Halloween; they hold a séance for Harry Houdini. But the late great magician won’t hear of it, and he would have told them so. Houdini found fame in the days of Vaudeville—the late 1800’s and early 1900’s. But […]

Straight ahead in the wrong direction

ROCKWALL/HEATH, TX (October 5, 2014) Reading the book of Jonah for the first time troubled me. Not the miraculous aspect; I easily digested the man-gets-swallowed-by-fish part. But Jonah’s stubborn response to God bothered me. I couldn’t relate to the prophet’s attitude. Until the time I found myself following his example. Our church on the edge […]

Golden Rule Days

ROCKWALL/HEATH, TX (August 25, 2014) Plastic folders, crayons and those timeless tools of learning, pencils and paper, currently fill store shelves to capacity. The sight makes me sentimental for yesteryear, when I had school-age children. Not that I’d like to repeat those years. But the opportunity to influence fresh hearts and minds is as precious […]

The Color of Grace

(August 19, 2014) In preparation for my family’s return home from time with grandparents, I’ve been painting over the “scribble-scrabble”—as my children call it—scrawled all over the upstairs bedrooms of our home. To be clear, this is not a rant. It is nearly axiomatic that a five-year-old, plus smuggled crayons, plus an hour of rest […]

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