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January 2025 the beginning of a new year! I like beginnings: turning the page of a calendar, a new sewing project waiting to be started, a beautiful sunrise, and even being the first one to open a new jar of peanut butter and getting that first fresh spoonful! My good husband would add: opening a brand new container of coffee or the smell of a newly-plowed field Endings a...

Did you ever have a "Moses Moment"? What about that time God asked you to take a turn in the church nursery or serve on one of the church's boards/committees? Your answer might have been:"Oh, thanks for asking. Please send someone else." Maybe He asked you to speak to your neighbor about how God has changed your life or teach a Sunday School class of wild and crazy boys. A...

Work As Worship By Joy Cochran Over the past five years, I have had the opportunity to be a fly on the wall, of sorts. For most of my working life, I had spent far too much time in a Christian bubble. Well, that is no longer the case. Now, as I work as a chaplain, I get to go into the workplace and see what has been out there all along. It has been both convicting and ey...

Lessons Learned From Scripture While Saying Goodbye To My Dad By Angie Pfleiderer It's been four months since my father's battle with melanoma came to an end. We were blessed to have him live seven additional months past his prognosis; but we knew the end was coming. Each day he lived felt like a treasured gift from God. But those last fourteen days they were hard! Neve...

Lessons Learned at My Sewing Machine By Denise Crites Frustration sometimes happens during a sewing project: an empty bobbin in the middle of a tricky seam, broken needles, failure to baste when the instructions say baste, failure to press when the instructions say press, interruptions(!), and, of course, having to use a seam ripper one too many times. Today I needed to...

Preparing for the Eclipse by Joy Cochran Lately, as I've driven down the interstate, I've seen ODOT signs asking if I was prepared for the eclipse. The more I've thought about it, the more I am struck with the oddity of it all. Each and every night when the earth rotates and we don't have a direct line of sight to the sun, it gets dark. I understand that this is d...

I have found myself currently in a season of "rest," or contentment as I have come to experience it. I am truly enjoying where I am in life: happily married, with a sweet and happy toddler, enjoying my home, family, friends, and church. I love my job and the people I work with. Truly for the first time in my life I do not feel the need to pursue the "next thing." I have al...

The Shower of Jesus' Blood By Joy Cochran 12.31.2023 Have you ever noticed that when you want to feel good about yourself, it's easy to find someone who is down in the dumps to compare yourself to, and suddenly you feel much better? Likewise, when you are set on martyrdom, you find so many others whose lives seem perfect, and your "Woe is me!" echoes through the depth...

The Lion of Judah and Revelation...

By Chad Sanders Have you ever seen a new sprout grow from the stump of a tree that was cut down? Certain deciduous trees, shrubs, and vines will re-sprout once they are cut. Rose bushes, oak trees, maples, and may other species will grow new shoots from roots or from the stump after a disturbance. In the prophetic books of the Old Testament, the authors will refer to a...