The Last Empty Seat

How many people were on that inter-island ferry, Lord?  700?  800? We had driven for several days from Aukland, New Zealand through Lake Taupo and on to the capital, Wellington. Yes… driving with the thrill of being on the left side of the road, with the steering wheel on the right side of the car!

A Bird By Any Other Name

We finally left it all behind, Lord.  The missed flights and the misdirected baggage.  The extra-long hours in airports and the long walks between gates.  The lost time and the lost opportunities. We spent the last two days in the wilderness.  Fishing pristine New Zealand rivers, with water so clear we could see every rock

DownUnderLand

Maybe my name isn’t really Diana after all.  Could it be that it’s really Alice, Lord?  That’s certainly how it has seemed these last few days! Like I fell down a rabbit hole and ended up in DownUnderLand.  The place where… … automobile steering wheels are on the right side.  (As opposed to the “wrong”

Refiner’s Fire

It started yesterday when our ride to the airport called just before departure. She was sick with the flu.  Fortunately, she sent a replacement. We arrived at the airport and checked in curbside.  For a domestic flight connecting to an international one.  We presented our passports.  They asked for our visas to enter that foreign

Metaphoric, Meteoric God Moments!

It happened in church last Sunday.  One of those “Not-To-Be-Mistaken” and “Always-To-Be-Remembered” God Moments. My heart had already been softened by the music.  Each note making its way through the “cracks” in the walls around my heart. Sprouting into bloom, like the plants I see growing through garden walls and patios.  Rugged, indomitable plants… growing in

My Latest UPs and DOWNs

UP at 5:00 AM every day… fine-tuning the Labor of Love that will soon be in print.   “Soon”… meaning as little as two months. Not long, in light of its content spanning a lifetime. History.  His-Story.  Your Story in my life. UP emotionally, when I reflect on that Story.  Those Stories.  So many Stories

Sliding Down… Leveraging Up!

Sliding down… into an old Pattern.  That’s where my client was when we last spoke. The Pattern and its Root are not uncommon… especially in our culture.  The Pattern is Anxiety and Fear… always over money.  Never having “enough.”  Even when we have a lot. The manifestation of this Pattern is a level of striving that leads

Beyond The “Book’s” Cover

Our pastor read a wonderful story in church on Sunday.  One of those “tear-jerkers” that drove his point home.  I assumed it was a true story, but it wasn’t.  Turns out it was a fictional story written in 1974 by Elizabeth Silance Ballard. The story itself may not be true.  But it’s truly heart-warming.  And

Rise… And Go In Peace

A “God-Encounter of the Jesus Kind.” It was yesterday, in church.  During communion. We are fairly new to this particular congregation.  Still experiencing the newness of the way communion is celebrated there. Pew by pew, we all walk forward and kneel at the altar in order to be served. We are a large enough congregation

The Power of A Near-LIFE Experience

She wasn’t supposed to be here.  Gianna Jessen. I just “met” her yesterday for the first time.  Through a video of her testifying before a government body in another country. She had been in the womb for 7.5 months when her mother sought an abortion.  Her amniotic sac was injected with saline solution, which should