Beyond 20 Gallons of Milk

Sometimes a cat shows up and becomes the pet you have been missing. That happened with my friend Natalie. The following is her story. “We have a grey tabby indoor cat who is about 12 years old. She was raised by someone in her 90s. We got her when Stephanie (Natalie’s daughter) saw a Facebook…

Jean Teadford nagged me and her friends to start a church sewing group. We agreed and began making simple clothing items for Operation Christmas Child shoeboxes. I also have made new friends. Some of the late Jean Tedford’s friends who came included three sisters: LaVerne, Barbara and Paula. I had seen LaVerne and Barbara in…

At the school bus’s last stop, a diminutive kindergartener climbed the steppled to sit in the front seat with her legs swinging her black saddle shoes. The white shoe polish on the toes still looked damp. Her mother polished those shoes as carefully as she combed and curled the child’s hair. Polishing shoes is a…

“We will be decorating tomorrow for Daily Vacation Bible School,” the group text announced. Another day of prepping the church and classrooms for five days of DVBS to look as fantastic as every church with Bible School does each summer.  It’s been a few years since I first encountered they hyper-decorated DVBS. That one had…

Followers of the Bible sometimes have to weigh the messages of conflicting verses. For instance In the 1930s and 40s German authorities reminded believers that Romans 13 admonished them to submit to those in authority. Most obediently watched as their Jewish neighbors, co-workers and friends lost their civil rights including the right to practice their…

Maligning the medical field fails to consider its many contributions.For instance, a friend tossed out a disparaging remark about doctors and modern cancer treatments. I immediately thought of my elderly friend. In her late 80s she developed breast cancer. The doctor basically told her to “go home and prepare to die.” She did not go…

The first packing guidelines from Love Packages’ founder Steve Schmidt are, “Fill the boxes nine and a half months pregnant.” In other words, overfill the boxes. A waist high Gaylord Box holds the fillers such as Our Daily Bread and The Upper Room. During our last visit Schmidt assigned Hubby and I to a corner…

Out of the mouths of babes comes wisdom, surprises and insights as shown in the following vignettes. Sam and Henry sat at the table munching cereal one morning when Sam (then 10) turned to Henry (then 7) and confidently told him, “Did you know that you are a BOGO? Buy one, get one free. Mom…

My daughter Sharon Joy Schulte wrote the following for her facebook page. I think it is worth sharing with my readers.I begged my mom to let me bring home a pitiful-looking litter of kittens from the neighborhood dumpster.For some reason she said, “yes” to those sickly kittens. I cuddled them, washed them and held them…

He finished! After years of part-time college and full time work, Chris Wade, married to our granddaughter Brittany, and father of three sons received his master’s degree in business administration this spring. Years ago, he realized if he wanted to advance and earn more, he needed first a bachelor’s degree and then the MBA. He…

As I reached for my card to pay for my groceries, a message appeared on the payment screen, “do you want to save five percent on groceries with your points, today?” Say what? I looked at my paltry pile of produce. Those points represent a savings of 50 cents a gallon on gas. I chose…

I just plain did not feel well that day. My mom knew what to do. She went to the kitchen, dropped white bread into the toaster and heated a cup of milk over the gas stove. After buttering the toast, she broke it into pieces and poured the warm milk over it. The butter melted…

Nothing about the plain envelope betrayed the excitement I felt when I opened the sheet of paper with its secret message. I knew the code to interpret it. It began with J3:16 5. Mk14:3 24. I picked up my King James Bible and looked up John 3:16 counted to the fifth word and wrote down…

Initially, the creators of Ben and Jerry Ice Cream promised equality of workers. They said that the highest paid CEO of the company would never earn more than five times what the least paid employee earned. The company made delicious ice cream and followed that principle for 16 years. Then in 1999 management decided it…

In the 1700s both Protestants and Catholics across Europe and the United States began Sunday Schools to teach literacy to children who worked long hours in factories six days a week. These schools taught basic literacy so that students would be able to read the Bible. In the 1700s, preaching the Gospel and discipling followers…