After each one of my five children was born, I prayed that God would at least let me live until they were adults. I’m 88 years old, my oldest child is retired, and I’m blessed to have great-grandchildren. Did God answer that prayer or what?! We’re gr…
1
Nearly 20 years ago, my dad’s older brother, my Uncle Dillon, told me a story when we were together for Christmas that’s never left my mind. It was the 1960s and Uncle Dillon, a Catholic, had just started seeing a Lutheran girl from school. They eac…
2
I know I’m not alone in saying this: It can be really difficult to choose a Christmas present for someone else, unless that person is a child, of course, in which case anything spelled T-O-Y has pretty good odds of being perfect. Some of us lose slee…
1
St. Paul member, Deb James, reflects on her career as a mental health counselor and how she uses the gifts God gave her to help others. A theme that runs through Deb James’ life is stepping in to fill a need. Deb and her husband Joe, both retired men…
7
Ten years ago, only a small percentage of people had heard the word “Advent,” and even fewer had used an Advent calendar. Most of these early calendars helped count down the days to Christmas and told the story of Jesus. Every day a little door opene…
Gratitude to me is not only understanding and acknowledging the blessings in your life but carrying the appreciation of those blessings forward into others’ lives. I’m so grateful that I’ve been given the life I have been given and the people I get t…
7
Last week, we had an electrician working at our house. More specifically, we’d called to have someone look at the outlet on the outside of our house. All of our outdoor Christmas lights were plugged into this particular outlet and then one evening, f…