On the night before his 18th birthday, Alex strolled through the park lost in thought, and a mysterious stranger approached him. The man had an air of enigma about him, his eyes twinkling with a mix of mischief and excitement. He stopped in front of Alex, a mischievous smile playing on his lips. "I have something special for you," the stranger said, reaching into his pocket. With a flourish, he produced a key—a key to a brand-new sports car, shining under the moonlight. Alex'

A typical household washes some 300 loads of laundry per year. Today, a typical washing machine cycle lasts about 40 minutes. That ends up being about 8.33 days’ worth of washing done per year per household. Does that seem like a lot? Consider that before the invention of the electric washing machine, a typical load of laundry took about 4 hours to complete. While laundry wasn’t washed as often before the invention of the electric washing machine, consider how long it would t

It was 6:00 and dinner had not yet been prepared, the kids were running around the house hungry and tired, a sound of running water alerted everyone that there was a flood in the bathroom, the timing of a salesman standing at the front door with a pitch that was going to “save somebody something” was impeccable, and now one of the children sustained an injury from running around in all the chaos. In desperation and under much pressure, the mom yelled at the kids to stop what

What are some of your favorite childhood memories? What made them your favorite? I have come to realize that many of my favorite memories as a child are connected to food. I think the good memories came from the gathering of people, the events being celebrated, and the happy memories that tied it all together. One of these memories happened every week. My mom would get out the wheat grinder and start to grind wheat to begin the process of making bread. As a child I marveled

Driving up into the mountains to gather firewood for his family, a man realized that his new truck was stuck in the snow after he stopped at a potential site to find firewood. He tried to get it out, but the tires just spun. Knowing that someone would come looking for him if he didn’t get back soon, he decided to get the firewood ready and wait for them. He filled his truck with the firewood. As he waited, he decided to try again to see if he could get the truck out. This tim

Bruce awoke with a start. He dreamed he had died and was standing in front of God. He hadn’t seen what God looked like due to the light coming from His face, but in the dream, he felt he was really in His presence. As Bruce recalled the dream, Bruce was trying to explain to God why Bruce had not lived up to his potential in life. “Life was hard” Bruce remembered himself saying, “I didn’t have enough money or time to really make a difference. Plus, I wasn’t as talented or succ

I felt torn inside. Things were not going well at home, and some family members were experiencing some significant struggles. But, things at work were going very well, and I could tell that I was being blessed in those efforts. I knew that I had been blessed with many things, but there was a significant distance inside between the feelings of gratitude for the good and the feelings of despair for the bad. It felt like I was simultaneously on a high mountain and a low, dark va

While waiting in line with a friend at a local barbecue spot. There was a man; much larger than myself, and his son in line behind us being obnoxious and goofing around. I didn't think much of it until he decided to bring me in on his "fun". He very obviously flipped my backside with his finger and then pretended like it was not him when I turned and confronted him about it. I sternly told him not to touch me but realized too late that this was his plan the whole time. He fli

Life is full of opportunity. At the beginning of every year, I find myself - in line with cultural tradition - making goals for what I will do in that New Year. As I look back on past goals made in previous New Year’s settings, I see a lot of ambition, but not as much follow-through. I see too many opportunities to be able to pursue them all, and too many uses of time that distracted me from my other goals. Each year, I accomplish a few things, half of some things, or a littl

A few months ago, I was in my car when suddenly I noticed the dreaded check engine light came on. Immediately I started to think of all the things that this could be, hoping it would be an easy fix. A few days later I was able to stop in at an auto parts store and do a diagnostic test to see if I could get an idea of what was going on. The result showed I had a bad purge valve. When the purge valve fails, it sticks open and will create a vacuum leak that can affect the engine

All of us have at one time or another found ourselves alone or feeling alone. We may be single parents trying to raise young children, a business executive having to make difficult decisions related to layoffs, or a college student trying to find what path we should pursue.   While there may be others around us during these hard times, including family, there are times when we don’t feel that they understand what is going on, and we do not feel that they can help share the we

Have you ever heard of the Grain of Mustard Seed parable? It is one that has passed the test of time, being passed down over the last 2000 years. Its message is that if you have faith the size of a mustard seed, you can move mountains - and nothing will be impossible to you. I had been thinking about this parable quite a bit before the following realization hit me: You don't have to have faith the size of a mountain to move a mountain.   This parable is trying to give a small

A couple of weeks ago, I authored an article about not feeling ready to become a father, but my wife was due with the baby soon. I wanted to write a follow up article to talk about how the change has affected me. If you have not read the first article, it might enhance this story to read that article first. The main question that I pondered in the last article was if I was ready to be a father. Now I get to see the answer. At least, I have proven that I can be the father of a

Jenny made another mistake on the piano as I watched with a bit of confusion. Teaching her to play the piano has been a unique experience. During some piano lessons, she displays an almost prodigy-like knowledge of piano theory and ability. Other times, she just stares at the sheet music in confusion. Those who have taken piano lessons before might guess that the lessons in which she excels directly follow the weeks she practiced daily. That’s what confuses me. Why does she n

A significant amount of my prayers have gone unanswered. I’ve always believed and hoped that God answers prayers. I have prayed many times in my life and have received answers and guidance at various times. However, I have also prayed at other times, and have not received the items I earnestly sought for. Many of my prayers have simply resulted in silence and more questions and doubts rather than in guidance, inspiration, or clarity. I don’t imagine that my experience is much

News flash! Humans are fallible! We make all kinds of mistakes every day. We say the wrong thing at the wrong time, think we know the answer when we’re dead wrong, lose control of our emotions, disrespect or misuse authority, lack humility and charity, demean others through word and deed, care too little, care too much, and a host of other failings. We even make mistakes in our own self-evaluations. Some people aren’t critical enough, glossing over their own faults or justify

Sitting at his 6-year-old son’s soccer game, Jim watched as his son’s coach started yelling at the referee and the coach on the opposing team about a claimed rule violation. This season, the league was experimenting with a rule that required keeping a goalie in for the entire half. This rule came about as it often took the younger kids a fair amount of time to substitute goalies since they needed to put on the goalie jersey and gloves. The other team had a goalie on the field

I’ve seen quite a few satirical sketches recently that depict American Conservatives and Liberals agreeing on most of their political viewpoints at a very basic level. Most are quite humorous and display far more truth than most would like to admit. One principle that I believe Conservatives and Liberals seem to agree upon is that freedom is vanishing. Different groups may site different areas from which they believe freedom to be vanishing and each seeks to blame the other f

It had been a week since my son had gone to school. He had been ill, so I went to his school, talked with his teacher, and picked up his homework. I took it home and looked it over with him, talking him through what was needed. He responded that he would be able to do it and didn’t need help. A few days later my son was feeling better, and he proudly announced all his homework was done and that we now had time to do something fun. We were both excited at this announcement, bo

About 16 years ago, I planted two peach trees. I grew up with my mom and grandma canning peaches and prefer those over store bought canned peaches. I also enjoy eating them fresh. I selected a variety that I liked and got them planted. It takes about 3 years before you can let them bear fruit. This helps the tree to get established and grow strong as well as be able to handle the weight of the peaches. My family and I have enjoyed many years of fresh peaches and had such an a