Tailgate Theme Revealed! May 14, 2012

Each year we restart the Life Group season by gathering all our groups in Outlook’s parking lot the last Sunday of August for a massive Tailgate Party.  We’ve done all kinds of things: chili cookoffs, hot dog eating contests (never again), thrown pies at the ministers, had Elvis show up for our ribfest. The secret [...]

Easter Week April 5, 2012

Easter week is a split reality for me. On one level I carry on my life in Indianapolis 2012, meeting with people, checking facebook, gunning through yellow lights, wondering what to wear. On another level I am an onlooker to events that happened centuries ago: a man riding a small donkey as people cheer; eating dinner with supposed [...]

Like Making Shrimp Crackers February 8, 2012

For my husband’s 60th, our kids made him a surprise gourmet dinner. “Top Chef” worthy. If you want proof check my facebook page. The first dish of ten was Salmon Roe on Shrimp Crackers, which was both delicious  and gorgeous.  It did not start out that way, however.  Raw shrimp kneaded into tapioca flour and shaped into a roll [...]

I Love my Life Group January 12, 2012

Ifyou’re not in a Life Group, I hope this unabashed declaration of love makes you wish you were.  My group has been having breakfast together every Thursday of the year since our first meeting at Steak ‘n Shake in spring 2003. We moved to Bob Evans years ago and occupy a corner table from 7:00 [...]

No Dud Christmas December 7, 2011

Every Christmas there is one dud gift. It’s the bottle of “Mr. Bubble” from the aunt that can’t grasp we grew up.  The box of fudge for the diabetic.  The department store underwear. It’s the last gift to be opened, and the first to be omitted when you answer the post-Christmas question, “What did you [...]

“The poor will always be with you.” Really? October 20, 2011

The world is going to hell in a handbasket.  The evidence is everywhere: war, violence, poverty, AIDS, hunger, failed schools, high unemployment, corporate greed,  the price of gas.  Fill in the blank with the disaster of the day. But guess what I heard this week?  A vaccine for malaria has been tested and found to cut [...]

A new way to see that annoying neighbor August 18, 2011

  I read a sermon by C. S. Lewis the other morning that packed a real sucker punch. It seems like a good thing to share with others, but especially to keep in mind, often.  Like when I’m cut off in traffic, or listen to cable news shows, or my husband doesn’t notice that I [...]

Serious about Summer Camp July 7, 2011

I became a Christian at church camp the summer after 4th grade. Angeles Crest Christian Camp nestles in the mountains that rim the Los Angeles basin just above Pasadena.  Vespers was held each evening in an amphitheater built to watch the sun set over the desert mountains, with a bonfire for light once it was [...]

What Are You Making Normal? June 7, 2011

We now have a minister who is a Doctor.  Pretty cool, isn’t it?  Rob earned his Doctor of Ministry at Grace Theological Seminary. It took years of study and perseverance to achieve this degree.  He had to drive up to Winona Lake for a week for each class, and there were many.  He had to pay money for those classes.  He [...]

Why Have Kids? May 11, 2011

Parenting is not for the faint of heart, which is why I appreciated Rob’s sermon on parenting Sunday.  Using the imagery from Psalm 127 that sees children as arrows, he lifted our eyes above the typical technical “how to’s”  of raising kids to the “why.”  Why have children? What good are they? You lose sleep, touch poop and vomit [...]