Music is the universal language. Music is prevalent during this festive time of year. Music is imperative for a soul to really “sing.” Music is very much a part of my family. Melodies and harmonies abound around a family who…
Life, love and Elmer’s glue
I’ll confess, I didn’t hear the Christmas tree come crashing down in the middle of the night. I vaguely remember my husband asking me if I heard dishes shattering. Just another bizarre dream, I thought. No thief in the night…
The original Christmas village
“O little town of Bethlehem, how still we see thee lie. Above thy deep and dreamless sleep, the silent stars go by.” This past summer Amanda and I did a lot of walking while we were in the United Kingdom…
Mourning with those who mourn
Like the rest of the country, I watched the news in shock and disbelief just days ago as unspeakable headlines scrolled along the bottom of the screen: “School shooting in Newtown, CT;” “Gunman attacks elementary school;” “More than 20 feared…
Where Christmas music originates
Christmas songs are among the popular music in the world. Music historians believe the first explicitly Christmas hymns were composed in Rome in the 4th century. However, in Luke 1:46-56 we find a story culminating in Mary’s song, the first…
Christmas key time for Hospitality House
By Jeff Brumley It’s always tough visiting loved ones in prison. A spouse or parent can see incarceration taking its toll over the years while they continue to deal with the legal, financial, social and emotional impact of the crimes….
What’s your story?
After I watched the Heisman Trophy presentation on ESPN last Saturday night (my selection did not win, by the way), I stayed on the channel and saw the documentary “You Don’t Know Bo” about athlete “Bo” Jackson. Although I was…
The generosity experiment
If Simon Peter’s brother, Andrew, had found an adult with a lunch of five barley loaves and two fish, instead of a young boy, I’m not sure the 5000 would have been fed that day. “My little lunch is not even…
When Christmas isn’t the ‘Most Wonderful Time of the Year’
‘Come to me, all you that are weary and are carrying heavy burdens, and I will give you rest. (Matthew 11:28) Christmas is the most wonderful time of the year! Only it’s not. Not for everyone. Not when he’s still…