life. faithful.

 It was Galileo who wrote something along the lines of, "Mathematics is the language God used to create the universe." Learning math, then, is a whole lot like learning the alphabet and basic grammar rules of a new language--you learn the symbols and how to combine them, what can go together and what can't, what interesting new sounds come from those combinations...all the basic mechanics that lie behind how the language functions. If that's where you leave it, the language  exists  for you, but it hasn't really come to life. The next step, to continue the story of mathematics as a language, is to take the alphabet and start to form words. This is the world of mathematic expressions. It's where we realize that if 3(2) means we have 3 groups of 2, we can extend that to say 3x means we have 3 groups of some unknown number, x. From there, it doesn't take much to move to 3t + 4.9t^2 telling us that we multiply some number by 3, then that same number is multipl...

  I had all my kids home this past weekend, which doesn't happen very often any more since two of them are in college. We got to have an easy day at home, which also doesn't happen very often. There was nothing planned, nothing any of us had to do. Nobody had basketball or homework or any of the typical things that take up our time in this season. Nathan got up early to go sit in the woods for a couple hours...he calls it hunting, but I think the main draw may be time in the quiet, away from a house full of teenagers! Those teenagers got to sleep in and get caught up on some much needed rest. When everyone was up, a couple of my kids started looking for something to eat. I told them to wait a few minutes and I would make breakfast. That's a pretty common occurrence when all of us are home, so they know that when I say I'm making breakfast it is usually going to be a "stick to your ribs" kind of meal. I didn't tell them what I had in mind, though--they just...

 There's a ministry I'm thankful to be part of called Higher Ground. It's a weekend retreat geared entirely toward providing an opportunity for people to draw closer to God, with 6 weekends offered each year--3 for men and 3 for women. One small part I get to play involves putting the words, "In God's Love" onto handmade wooden crosses. If you don't know this about me, one skill I can say I mastered in pursuit of my master's degree was procrastination. As a result, yesterday morning was Friday and I still needed to do the lettering for Sunday. But as I said, it's the one skill I mastered, so it will be done on time (deadlines and I have a sort of...understanding). So I sent a text that said, "Just wanted to let you know that I haven't forgotten the cross." It was a perfectly harmless statement about a simple piece of wood, but it got me to thinking. Don't you just hate it when that happens? Can I honestly say that I haven't fo...

  Isaiah 41 details how God will deal with the enemies of Israel. Right in the middle, there are a couple of verses that I love: " Fear not, for I am with you; Be not dismayed, for I am your God. I will strengthen you, Yes, I will help you, I will uphold you with My righteous right hand." (verse 10) "For I, the Lord your God, will hold your right hand, saying to you, 'Fear not, I will help you.'" (verse 13)  Look back at the specific wording there. Verse 10 says God is upholding you with His right hand, then verse 13 says He is holding your right hand. Can you picture that for a second? It's like when you were little, and your dad would sit you on his lap and let you "drive." You weren't really doing anything--he had ahold of the wheel, even though it was at the bottom where you couldn't see. He was completely in control, but it sure made you feel big, like you were accomplishing something amazing. These two verses together show God d...

There's been something that's bugged me for a long time but I've put off writing about it because I know I'm going to step on some toes. I know looks are a touchy subject for us. I'm not immune from the insecurities, let me tell you. When I look in the mirror, I see each and every flaw--every tiny thing I think is "wrong" with my looks or that I'm bugged by. I won't wear a shirt if it touches me in the wrong places. I'm definitely not a fan of being in a swimsuit, even though I love swimming and would live in the water every summer if I could. I gave up wearing my contacts--not because they bothered me, but because my little boy very innocently told me one day, "You look a lot younger when you wear your glasses, because then I can't see the wrinkles around your eyes." Boys. Good grief. But my goodness, ladies, can we please stop posting highly edited pictures on social media? You know the ones--beauty filters that erase every impe...

  You probably know the story of Lazarus--he was sick, and his sisters sent word to Jesus. Jesus loved these three siblings...but He waited two more days after He got word about Lazarus' illness. By the time Jesus got to the town of Bethany, He received word that Lazarus had been dead and in the tomb for 4 days. This is the story that gives us one of the most fun sentences to read in the King James version: " Lord, by this time he stinketh" (John 11:39) Don't ask me why that amuses me, I guess I just have an odd sense of humor... Anyway, the story of Lazarus ends when Jesus commanded Lazarus to walk out of the grave, and that was exactly what happened. Tucked into the story, though, is something that caught my attention recently. We met Mary and Martha before the story of their brother's death, when Jesus had visited Bethany earlier. That visit showed Martha rushing around, doing all the work to make sure Jesus and His disciples were comfortable and fed, while Mar...