Married to the Cloth

 I never expected to go to Sheboigan Wisconsin, but when your kids go to college in the Midwest sometimes they marry and stay in the Midwest. Our oldest is working on her masters in basically inklings and inkling adjacent writers through Urbana Theological Seminary. Which means we had to stop in at the most perfect little book shop, Inklings. Highly recommend.

  This photo was taken 5 years ago at 9:30 in the morning. The town was on fire. 90 % of what we knew to be Paradise was destroyed. I had a similar feeling August 24, 1992, when the news said “Homestead no longer exists” in the wake of Hurricane Andrew destroying our home and the town of Homestead.  We survived, we have made it through. G-d has been faithful to us. 

 Growing up on the East Coast, mostly MidAtlantic region, my mother was a new believer and she also was unlicensed so we went places we could walk to or we hosted friends at our house.  Our home was rarely empty. There were single GIs who were far from home and became our family. There were the military families with wives from foreign lands who filled our plates with unpronounceable dishes made with spices. And while my dad was at work, the house would be filled with lots of little kids who came to play while our mothers STUDIED the Bible. And because we could walk to a base chapel, if they had something going on, we were there. VBS which lasted 2 weeks back then, Awana , choir, midweek worship and Bible study.  And mom had her Bible with her everywhere she went. I thought this was pretty normal. All my mom’s friends carried sacred tomes and notebooks and fountain pens and highlighters. These were the women who made studious escapades and retreats attainable and they did...

Thompson Chain Reference Bible has long been the Bible for in-depth study.  According to Wikipedia “  Dr. Frank Charles Thompson, in the early 1900s, but the original work was started in 1890. Thompson was born in 1858, in   Elmira ,   New York , and was ordained in 1879. His wife was Laura Boughton Thompson. He began work on the system because of his dissatisfaction with the reference Bibles that were then available to preachers: Dr. Thompson believed the Bible should be presented in a simple, but scholarly way. He saw the need for a well-organized reference Bible that would be of practical use to the layman as well as a minister. In 1890, Dr. Thompson began the work he would continue for the rest of his life. He completed the "thought suggestions" opposite the verses throughout the Bible. These are what became the "chain-links" that are the heart of the Thompson system. Dr. Thompson created these chain link topics (4,000 of them) leadership by from verse to verse...

  My friend Rhonda Stoppe once said that as the wife of a pastor who has a church in California that we were “called to California”. Still not a phrase I am completely comfortable with, but she isn’t wrong.  California has held 7 generations of my father’s family, maybe 8. My husband’s pastorate will hold its 125th anniversary which is extra amazing given how many churches were destroyed in the fire of 2018 as it swept through our town. But I still don’t consider myself to be a Californian. Seven schools by age 7 can do that to you, let alone 2 continents and 3 countries. Which brings me first to the artwork of the Bible we will look at in this post. I totally saw California Golden poppies. They are absolutely not botanically correct for a poppy. They aren’t even passable as a poppy but that is still what my heart saw. Silly girl. Being the start of the Gregorian calendar year, this is often the season of new reading plans, new resolutions and goals. This seemed like a good ti...

 25 yrs ago- seriously! Has it been that long?! I suppose it has since the baby from those memories is working towards his 2nd college degree. 25 years ago, when we lived in Baltimore, our congregation decided to start home fellowships, home groups…whatever they may be called now… smaller groups of members of the larger body, meeting in homes, and studying together the same study each week. The goal was for the whole congregation to be on the same page but able to have deeper conversations and fellowship that is too difficult in larger group settings. The study they chose was Blackaby’s Experiencing God. This wasn’t an easy or “fluff” study. It had a lot of homework and bible memory…and I had 3 children under 3 years old. Somehow in that frazzled state, I did the study. It was a lifeline to sanity and to the fight against discontent. (It was definitely not my goal to move back to the east coast at that time…). Needless to say, this Bible brings me back to good memories and reminds ...

  I was preparing to go to the hospital as a package was delivered. I picked it up and brought it along with me. A new volume for review. This, Spurgeon kept me company as I bounced between 2 waiting rooms, one for my husband and one for my mother. Waiting is hard, it feels passive but drains you as it’s actually active. Praying, worrying, hoping, and constantly watching and listening for a name to be called. I know my husband will be done, recover, and soon to go home, but there is so much of the unkown walking to the other waiting room to check on my dad. They said my mother had lung cancer, several biopsies will have to be done. My dad is sitting in a chair in that fidgety resignation that says you can’t help right now all you can do is wait. So while you wait you can tune everything out or you can stand at the doors of heaven and beg for help. “ No eloquence in the world is half so full of meaning as the patient silence of a child of God. "Truly my soul silently waits for God....