Not even my parents can remember a blizzard like last week’s— when we shoveled half a foot of snow off the pond just so we could skate, while the wind reddened our faces and froze our hair. More snow covered our work in minutes. The sky cleared on Wednesday, so now it’s sun on ice— … Continue reading Winters Past & Present
I was standing at the window this time last year, staring at the blank ground. My imagination had to stretch and bend to arrange irises, daffodils, zucchinis, cucumbers, and lettuce in their proper beds and boxes. I was sick with spring fever, and all I could do was write about it. But this winter, I’ve … Continue reading Seedtime
I wrap a blanket around my cold shoulders every morning and sit to read a book that feels just as warm-- Gentle and Lowly: The Heart of Christ for Sinners and Sufferers. Dane Ortlund writes: “What elicits tenderness from Jesus is not the severity of the sin but whether the sinner comes to him.”[i] If … Continue reading Good but Unsafe
I'm thankful for books. Here are the ones on 2020's shelf--- all forty of them, and each was good and glory-reflective in its unique way. (I've linked to Goodreads, where you can thumb through each book a little more.) Cheating Death by Larry Kaniut The Weight of Glory by C.S. Lewis The Return of the … Continue reading 40 Books on My Shelf
November 22 My family huddled around our TV last Sunday night to watch a rocket fire its way into space. NASA livestreamed the SpaceX Dragon flight, and I watched with a slack jaw as humans hurtled through the atmosphere, leaving Earth behind at over 17,000 miles per hour, and sailed into the most unknown, uncharted … Continue reading A Small, Small Whisper
November 8 I’m writing this at 7:30 on Tuesday morning. The polls have only been open for an hour, and I can’t try to guess what things will look like by the time you read this on Sunday. But I do know Sunday’s sun will rise on a new leader— elected or reelected. And Sunday’s … Continue reading King of This Tuesday in November
October 18 I spent my free time last week ripping out the weedy leftovers of my garden. It was hot work because in Missouri, something called Indian Summer has swept away a brisk September. The afternoons warm to eighty degrees, while the trees blush and give away bouquets of leaves. It’s an awkward stage, because … Continue reading Indian Summer
October 11 These days, we need something worth rejoicing in that won't come down with COVID or lose an election or go out of style. We need something chiseled in stone that, when the world starts dissolving, we can stand on and say, "This will never die or lose or fade!" I've always pictured the … Continue reading The Book of Stone
October 4 There's a collective of painters and poets and woodworkers and songwriters that make up a very special corner of the Internet called The Rabbit Room. And maybe more than any other website, this one has made me look up. God has used The Rabbit Room to fiercen my love for King Jesus and … Continue reading Hutchmoot 2020 (What, When, and Why)
September 13 I sometimes forget what it was like to go into Aldi without a mask, or to hug people and shake their hands and not apologize. I sometimes feel like the pandemic always was, is, and will be. But the only One to ever wear that title is Jesus. “I am the Alpha and … Continue reading Yesterday and Today and Forever