Friday Tidings

We’d met at the park, so her kids could play. From a nearby bench we could keep an eye on all the action while talking about motherhood, marriage, her full-time job, and marvel that sanity was still possible. Janet pulled a news magazine from her bag. She flipped it open to a page revealing the photographic journalism we’ve come to expect but never can un-see. I looked at the bloody image of a dead boy—carried by a woman bearing the weight of far more than her brutalized child. I cringed. “Julie saw this.” Janet shook her head as she quickly slipped the magazine back into her bag. “She asked me what had happened. What do you tell a seven-year-old about people who kill children?” I thought back to when my kids were young and we’d sing, It’s A Small World After All . We learned about far away places and cultures, but even with different languages, clothes, and homes, people were still people—with a purpose and passion to live.  Our kids used to have a...

At seventeen he felt awkward standing next to his family at the Memorial Day parade. His younger siblings enjoyed it all, but he’d rather be hanging out with his friends. It was the same every year, his family getting together to honor Uncle John. After the parade, there’d be a picnic in Grandma’s backyard. Uncle John had been killed long before he’d been born, so all the Memorial stuff didn’t matter to him. But it mattered to his grandma. Sulking in Grandma’s living room, he didn’t feel like playing games in the backyard. As he sat alone, he saw an old photo of his Uncle John. He picked up the picture gazing into the face of the young, uniformed soldier taken in some war torn jungle. Grandma came in and saw him looking at John’s picture. “I’d like to show you something.” Grandma motioned for him to follow. They went into her bedroom where she pulled an old wallet from her dresser. She carefully laid o...

A recent Pew Research Center poll revealed declining numbers of Christians in America. Church leaders are scrambling to explain why. I have an idea. Maybe it’s because of people like me who have struggled with the whole Christian “love” thing.   Jesus told his followers, “Love others as you love yourself.” Loving those who think like I do is easy, but loving people of different faiths, or no faith, while living in the midst of our rapidly diversifying culture, that’s been harder. But God hasn’t changed his mind on the love commandment. As a blogger, I’ve been caught in the crossfire between some hard-line atheists and brutally dogmatic Christians. I can almost imagine Jesus shaking his head as judgmental words flew back and forth.  We Christians need to consider how we’re going to relate in a post-Christian nation. Will judgment or love increase our Christian numbers? Which leads me to an editor’s soul-searching assign...

The first time I realized she had a special way with kids was when I watched her babysit a large family. She could snuggle a baby in one arm and stir a pot on the stove with the other. She could keep the older kids on task with their homework while keeping a close eye on the younger two swinging in the backyard. Around that same time she became a Sunday school teacher’s helper. That quickly morphed into a full-fledged position when the director saw how the little kids flocked to her. She could simultaneously manage ten kid’s craft projects while keeping the most active boys enthralled during story time. I kind of expected her to be an elementary teacher, but college took her in a different direction. Marriage came but children didn’t—yet my sister always had a mother’s heart along with a fun-loving mind. Kerry loved kids—but even better—kids loved Kerry. At a time we honor mothers and all they do and have done—I salute Kerry who has be...

Seattle has its share of homeless folks—just like in most cities. It’s a hard situation without easy solutions. Yet, every time I visit the land of Seahawks and Mariners, of skyscrapers and the Space Needle, I’ll walk right past the folks who have no home. What else can I do? How much will a couple bucks help? I’ve tried the cluster approach, where I gather with a fast-moving group and we collectively ignore the beggar on the corner. It’s like a human shield protecting me from having to consider the dollar bills in my purse. However, it was mid-morning and my fellow cluster must have already been at work. I walked alone with my cell phone in one hand and my handbag tucked close to my side. I'm adept at pretending to be on an important call—appearing oblivious to the suffering on the sidewalk. So, not only am I ignoring a human need, I’m a liar as well. I'm ashamed to think how often I've done this. A beggar was up ahead. ...

It started out as a girlfriend word game over coffee—trying to think of three-word sentences that we hear a lot. “I love you” topped all our lists. We had some fun: Just stop it. I gained weight. I hate that. My boss sucks. You did what? I got fired. Life is tough. She is cute. We laughed and then the conversation turned to kids, life’s struggles, and some of the victories along the way. As I drove home, I thought about some three-word sentences that had changed my life. In college, I met an amazingly loving guy who said: You are beautiful . Three simple words. But this wasn’t about any outward appearances; it was about being loved. Words can bring love, affirmation, and acceptance. I believed him when he said:   I need you . I still remember the warm, spring day when I heard: Please marry me . Those three words were life-changing. But that was only the beginning. Several years later I shared the...

I’m not a political diplomat, but having studied communications and interpersonal relationships, when someone lies and hurls death threats, it effectively ends meaningful discourse.  Welcome to negotiations with Iran—where the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps encourages the “Death to America” chants among the crowds after weekly prayers and during political rallies. To them, the United States, “is still the great Satan and the enemy of the (Islamic) revolution…” Just a couple months ago in the Persian Gulf, the Iranians sent a blazing message when they blew up a full-size model of the U.S.S. Nimitz.  And let’s not ignore the poignant words by the supreme leader’s representative, Ali Shirazi, “When we look at the Islamic world, we see that the culture of the Islamic revolution has reached all countries and all Muslims throughout the world….We shall not rest until we raise the flag of Islam over the White House.” Honestly, does this sound like...