There's no doubt that Cocoa Beach is a popular place-particularly for surfers. Not nearly as many stooped over shellers can be found in these parts, but I have continued my life long pastime with the eagerness (if not the energy) of the 10-year old girl who once discovered the magic of these most expressive of… Continue reading Broken Beauty
Category: Biography
Choose Wisely
The ropes I used had colored ends: green, red, yellow, black, blue, purple. Last weekend’s women’s retreat was an exploration into the matters of the heart that are riding just beneath our planners and online calendars. Each color represented a different kind of commitment that pulls at our hearts. In a very diverse group, what… Continue reading Choose Wisely
Christ as Our Shield
Yesterday noon found me sitting in a local diner with one of my “girls.” (My "girls” are women who were students of mine at Wheaton College somewhere in the 90’s.) She is not, of course, a girl anymore, but a lovely young woman in her 30’s with a passion for the Lord and compassion for… Continue reading Christ as Our Shield
Common Ground
Do the Next Thing
I have been watching some new bushes pass through autumn. They held their leaves longer than the cousins next to them, and turned a mellow shade of gold before becoming barren twigs for the winter. On the other side of the garden is a bush that is still brilliant red. Today I wished that I had more than… Continue reading Do the Next Thing
Double Meanings
We know only three things about her: she was on her 6th man (with whom marriage was apparently not an option), she was at the well with her water jar at high noon, and she was a Samaritan. But I think we can imagine one more thing: she was lonely. Intensely lonely. I have now lived… Continue reading Double Meanings
Drenched
I was talking to a younger friend yesterday who, in spite of careful stewarding of his financial resources, encountered tax bills this spring that completely wiped a fairly healthy savings account. We spoke of the raw fear that comes when, in spite of our best efforts, we find ourselves in moments of financial insecurity, and… Continue reading Drenched
Drop Everything Now
My senior in high school left the house this morning with a slight swagger on the way to the golf team meeting. The top of the totem pole looked great at 9:00. At 9:40 the view was slightly different. Cell phone rings: "Mom! I need a sports physical before try-outs begin at 12:15." Hmmm. "OK.… Continue reading Drop Everything Now
Before Their Time
I am retreating up in the mountains with my husband of thirty years at the very moment that my friends in Wheaton are laying their beloved son, student and soldier to rest. He was a classmate of my son's. So I walked over to our little chapel high in the treetops and prayed for Sam's… Continue reading Before Their Time
A Real Battle
A few years ago I found myself having sustained one of those sickening, confusing, fearful spiritual attacks for which one is completely unprepared. I could only describe it as a poisonous arrow…and then I thought of Paul’s “flaming darts of the evil one” at the end of Ephesians. Perhaps Paul was not just painting a nice word… Continue reading A Real Battle
Carla Waterman 