Author: Carolyn Gard When I was growing up in the 1950s I went to many Cleveland Indians baseball games with my father. My favorite player for many years was Larry Doby, the first black player in the American League. It wasn’t...

Author: Nicole Speer The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness did not overcome it. ~John 1:5 When I decided to run for public office, I knew I was embarking on a journey that would test my faith. I expected the hardest part...

Author: Karen Hoover We had the opportunity in August to make a 3-week road trip out to California with stops in several National Parks, COVID-delayed visits with family and friends, and the special opportunity to deliver a carload...

Author: Betsy Turner Barrett As I face this blank page, trying to begin this devotional, I realize that my challenge to address this blank page feels familiar. Why does this feel familiar? Ahhh, I think I know . . . I’ve felt this...

Author: Nancy Wade As a young child, I was unaware of the intricacies of my parents’ lives and of the decisions that were required of them as adults. My younger brother and I were born into different birth families in the 1950’s and...

Author: Amy Ostwald  For where two or three are gathered in my name, I am there among them.” Matthew 18:20 ***************** I have rarely been at total peace in my life. There is usually a question that is knocking around...

Author: Susan Rose One of my favorite local hikes is the Dakota Ridge trail on Mount Sanitas, only about five minutes by car from my home. The trail has one spot that is very steep and is set up like a stone staircase: a labor of love...

Author: Amy Ostwald Romans 1:11-12 I long to see you so that I may impart to you some spiritual gift to make you strong— that is, that you and I may be mutually encouraged by each other’s faith. ********* From our view at...

Author: Jean Abbott  Jean Abbott, M.D., is a mostly retired emergency medicine physician. The following is a condensed version of a meditation she shared last month at evening church. Don’t pick on people, jump on their failures,...

Author: William B. Jones “He comes to us as one unknown, without a name, as of old, by the lake-side, He came to those men who knew him not.  He speaks to us the same word: ‘Follow thou me!’ and sets us to the tasks which He has...