About Barbara Harper

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Laudable Linkage

Posted on August 30, 2025 by Barbara Harper

I’m still behind in my blog reading from when the family was here, but I found these good reads this week:

The Transformative Power of Love: A Story of Umbrellas and Grace. “Mama smoked constantly. Her TV blared at all hours of the night. My peaceful home would be turned upside down. So I bought a “No Smoking” sticker for the car. My feeble attempt to make things comfortable before stepping into my role as the hands and feet of Jesus. Mama needed to know God’s love. But my response to the situation revealed I also needed to experience God’s love on a deeper level.”

The Times When You Are Most Vulnerable. “Our minds don’t always work very well when they are under duress. Our emotions can overwhelm us and our instincts become unreliable. Just when we are most needy, we become most vulnerable—vulnerable to making poor decisions and acting in ways that are unwise or even unbiblical.”

Encouragement In a World of Opinions. “Unfortunately, we live in a world where our own opinions have grown to idol status. Social media has us sharing our opinions as if the world just really needs to know our every thought. We’ve come to believe that what’s on our mind is what this world needs, and it affects the way we interact with others. We’re quick to criticize. Quick to make judgments. To offer up ‘unpopular opinions,’ or to add our voice to a shouting throng of opinion spewers.”

We Were Made for Less, HT to the Story Warren. “A popular line in Christian contemporary songs is ‘You were made for more.’ The audience I conjure is the careworn mom with her hands in dishwater or a man aimlessly walking through a dreary urban landscape. But don’t we all suspect from time to time that God’s plan for us involves more glamor, appreciation, and gratification than we’re currently experiencing? Actually, we might do better to think in terms of ‘less.’”

The Gift of Grace Wrapped Up in a Simple Greeting. “Without literally using the words, what would ‘grace to you’ sound like in the paper towel aisle at Wal-Mart? In the hallways of a Sunday-morning church? I am pondering the notion that my greetings, though not inspired as Paul’s were, can truly mediate grace to my sisters in Christ.”

How Jesus Reached the Pharisees. “The Pharisees are, in many ways, the main bad guys of the gospel accounts. They were the ones who rejected Jesus because He called out their sin, and they were the ones leading the charge to have Him arrested and crucified. They were evil, and in some ways they were the worst kind of evil, because they were the kind of evil that genuinely thought they were good. The Pharisees are the foil for the true purity and holiness of Jesus. They seem to be almost without hope. But there is one little verse in Scripture that throws this nice, clean little paradigm on its head.”

Dealing With the Praise of Men, HT to Challies. “The popularity [Spurgeon] experienced meant that he had to be on constant guard against pride. This was a battle that he fought throughout his 40 years of pastoral ministry.”

The High Price of Watching Nudity, and twelve reasons not to. HT to Challies.

You Can’t Bubble Wrap Your Boy: And That’s a Good Thing. “Not all of our sons are this drawn to danger (thank you, Jesus!), but I pray that all of them realize that following Jesus is the grand adventure their hearts were made to crave. I believe that there is something inside every man, and therefore something inside every boy, that longs to push past self-centered living and give their lives to something bigger. One of the greatest challenges of being a boy mom is fighting the temptation to envelop my sons in perpetual Bubble Wrap and instead accept the hard-to-swallow truth that my boys were made for more than safe. “

Questions Every Pastor on Social Media Should Ask Themselves, HT to Challies. These questions are good for all of us.

Keep out of your life all that will keep Christ out of your mind (Unknown).

Friday’s Fave Five

Posted on August 29, 2025 by Barbara Harper

Here on this last Friday of August, I’m joining with Susanne and friends at Living to Tell the Story to share five highlights from the week. This is more than “looking on the bright aside”: it’s a deliberate cultivation of gratefulness by looking at God’s hand in our days.

1. More family time. My oldest son was in town from the 13th through this last Sunday. We so enjoyed the time together, though it went by all too fast. Jesse had us over to his place Friday night for ginger pork that was so good. Then Saturday night we had pizza and games at our house. I loved this expression from Timothy as we played Poetry for Neanderthals.

And yes, the inflatable club Jesse is holding is part of the game. 🙂 You divide into teams, then take turns choosing cards and giving clues to get your teammates to guess what’s on your card. You can’t use any of the words on the card and you have to speak in one-syllable words. A person from the other team observes your card while it’s your turn, and if you make a mistake, they get to bop you with the club. 🙂 This game provides for lots of laughter.

2. Family photos. We try to get a picture when we’re all together. We just barely made this before it started raining.

3. Lovely weather. We’ve been in the high 70s this week, with lows overnight in the 50s and 60s. I know we’ll get back into the 90s before autumn arrives, but I’ll enjoy this weather while I can.

4. Time with Timothy when his parents had a meeting to go to. Watching him is different from when he was younger, but still fun.

5. A new air fryer/toaster oven combo wasn’t on my radar when my family asked for birthday gift ideas. But Jason and Mittu had recently gotten one, and it sounded so good, Jim got one for me. We had a small older one, but it was so small and noisy, we rarely used it. This one is big enough to make a whole meal in and runs much more quietly.

How was your week?

August Reflections

Posted on August 28, 2025 by Barbara Harper

I know I comment way too often on how fast time passes–but, wow, August sure went by in a blur.

Regular readers know I spent about three weeks in atrial flutter and then three days in atrial fibrillation, resulting in a cardioversion in the ER when my cardiologist didn’t have a cardioversion slot open for another two and a half weeks. I’m not at full capacity when my heart is beating too fast and out of rhythm, so that time involved a lot of resting and support from my wonderful family.

The latter half of the month was much happier, though. My oldest son came in from RI on August 13th and just left on the 24th. My youngest took a few days off as well, so we had lots of enjoyable family time together. My oldest son and I both celebrated birthdays during that time, and the guys had a few days’ camping trip with swimming, kayaking, fishing, and food.

Jason and Mittu celebrated their sixteenth anniversary this month. Timothy started sixth grade and a newly-formed Sunday School class for middle schoolers. He’s growing up way too fast!

Creating

This was for Jason and Mittu’s anniversary. The Cricut machine did all the heavy lifting, including the words:

This was for a baby shower, also done by the Cricut:

And this was for Jeremy’s birthday. He likes foxes, and I found this design looking through fox images on the Cricut. The “Happy Birthday” is a sticker.

Reading

Since last time, I have finished (titles link to my reviews):

Exalting Jesus in 1 & 2 Thessalonians (Christ-Centered Exposition Commentary) by Mark Howell, not reviewed. I gleaned a few nuggets from it, but it was not my favorite commentary.
Wildwood Creek by Lisa Wingate, audiobook. The last and best of her Shores of Moses Lake series. A college student majoring in film gets a prime opportunity working on a reality show based on a community that disappeared in the 1860s. But there are some surprising parallels between the two timelines.
Where We Belong by Lynn Austin, audiobook. Two Victorian women defy convention by traveling extensively, even by camel in Egypt. They find a codex of the gospels in an old monastery. Based on a true story.

I’m currently reading:

1 and 2 Timothy for You by Phillip Jensen.
Van Gogh Has a Broken Heart: What Art Teaches Us About the Wonder and Struggle of Being Alive by Russ Ramsey
North! or Be Eaten, the second in the Wingfeather Saga by Andrew Peterson. I should be done with this now, but I keep picking up other things instead. I enjoy it while reading it but I’m not driven to keep going.
A Face Illumined by Edward Payson Roe
The Island Bookshop by Roseanna M. White
The Bitter End Birding Society, audiobook, hot off the press by Amanda Cox

Blogging

Besides the weekly Friday Fave Fives, Saturday Laudable Linkage, and book reviews, I’ve posted these since last time:

Do You Need a Fresh Word from the Lord? “We don’t need something new and fresh from God. What He has given us is more than sufficient for our spiritual needs. Why doesn’t it always feel that way?”
What I Learned from a Traumatic Illness. “I’ve been jotting down several things I have learned through this experience, and I thought I’d share them with you. I know many of you are going through physical trials or have in the past. Though our details might vary, I hope you’ll find camaraderie and encouragement here.”
When People Are Late to Church. “We just don’t know what it takes for some people to get to church. While we don’t want to have a casual attitude about arriving at church (or anywhere else) on time, we shouldn’t have an overly judgmental attitude, either.”
Is Your Testimony Dramatic? “Such exciting accounts can make some of us feel our testimonies are a little lacking. But consider what salvation is: a new birth. . . . Every birth is a miracle to those involved. Parents greet their newborns with love and joy no matter what details led to the baby’s arrival.” Similarly, Jesus said, “Just so, I tell you, there is joy before the angels of God over one sinner who repents.”

Writing

Not much besides the blog. But our writing critique group just started up again after a few weeks’ hiatus, and my submission is due in a few weeks.

Looking ahead to September, we plan to enjoy Labor Day with the family, Jesse’s birthday later in the month, and a 50th anniversary with friends . . . and hopefully more fall-like weather.

Do you have any highlights from August?

(I often link up with some of these bloggers.)

Is Your Testimony Dramatic?

Posted on August 25, 2025 by Barbara Harper

Adoniram Judson, one of America’s first missionaries in the early 1800s, has one of the most dramatic testimonies I ever heard. He came from a Christian home, but in college fell in with a group who didn’t believe as he had been taught. His best friend was Jacob Eames, a “free-thinker” who was a skeptic. Though Jacob believed there was some type of God, he rejected the Bible.

Adoniram’s departure from the faith broke his parents’ hearts. His father tried to talk with him, but could not match Adoniram’s brilliant reasoning.

Adoniram wanted to go into the theater and perhaps become a playwright. But when the theater group he found had appalling morals.

He traveled more, ending up one night at an inn that had only one room left. The innkeeper apologized, saying the man in the next room was dying. Adoniram assured the man he would not be bothered. But he could hear the man’s groaning all through the night. Adoniram was shaken with thoughts of what happens after death.

As Adoniram sought the innkeeper the next morning to settle his account, he asked about the dying man. The innkeeper confirmed that the man did die. As they discussed the situation further, it came out that the dead man was Adoniram’s friend, Jacob Eames.

Adoniram was stunned–not only because Eames was so young and his friend, but because he wondered for the first time if he might be wrong. He felt that only God could have orchestrated events that led him to this time and place.

He wasn’t saved immediately, but this was the first step in his coming to true faith in God.

I’ve heard other thrilling conversion stories through the years: twin brothers in a former church and half-brothers in our current church who were miraculously saved from drug addiction, a man caught in a piece of machinery who would have died without God’s intervention, the apostle Paul’s Damascus Road experience.

Such exciting accounts can make some of us feel our testimonies are a little lacking.

But consider what salvation is: a new birth. We’ve known people with exciting birth stories as well: One friend made it to the hospital, but not past the lobby when her baby came. My brother was born at home, too quickly to go anywhere, even though the doctor had told my mother that day that the baby wouldn’t come for a few days yet. Another friend planned to deliver at a small university hospital, but complications led to being transported by ambulance to a larger hospital in town.

Yet every birth is a miracle to those involved. Parents greet their newborns with love and joy no matter what details led to the baby’s arrival.

Jesus told about a man leaving ninety-nine sheep behind to find the one lost one and rejoicing when he found it. He went on to say, “There will be more joy in heaven over one sinner who repents than over ninety-nine righteous persons who need no repentance” (Luke 15:7). He told of a woman finding a lost coin and then calling her friends in to rejoice with her when she found it. Then He reiterated, “Just so, I tell you, there is joy before the angels of God over one sinner who repents.”

The little child who comes to saving faith at home, in Sunday School, or in VBS causes just as much joy in heaven as the hardest criminal who believes.

We tend to think of drug dealers, prostitutes, gangsters, and such as the “worst” sinners. Proverbs 6:16-19 says, “There are six things that the Lord hates, seven that are an abomination to him: haughty eyes, a lying tongue, and hands that shed innocent blood,
a heart that devises wicked plans, feet that make haste to run to evil, a false witness who breathes out lies, and one who sows discord among brothers.” Pride, lying, and discord are right up there with shedding innocent blood.

When Jesus was asked which was the greatest commandment, He replied, “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength” (Mark 12:30). If that’s the greatest commandment, it follows that the greatest sin is breaking that commandment. And all of us do so every day.

Salvation is turning from darkness to light, becoming God’s child, receiving forgiveness and eternal life, and beginning a personal relationship with God. That’s pretty dramatic in itself, no matter the circumstances that led to it.

(I often link up with some of these bloggers.)

Laudable Linkage

Posted on August 23, 2025 by Barbara Harper

Here are some of the good reads found this week:

A Biblical Message for Children of Aging Parents. “What I’ve seen time and again is that even the most loving, conscientious children are often riddled with guilt — especially when decisions feel impossibly hard. But Scripture offers clarity, comfort, and guidance for those walking this sacred path.”

To Be Almost Saved Is to Be Completely Lost. “I sometimes wonder how many people in your church and mine have heard the gospel, have thought about its claims, and have perhaps even found themselves agreeing with many of them—yes, Jesus existed; yes, he died for sins; yes, he died for people like me—but have still refused to trust in him. It is one thing to assent to facts, but an entirely different thing to trust in Jesus.”

Learning to Have Conversations with God. “I have often spoken to people who struggle to know how to integrate prayer and Scripture in such a way that they can carry on a conversation with the Lord.” Tim Challies gives some tips for doing that.

One Pentecost Was Enough, HT to Challies. “The lyrics repeatedly declare, ‘We need another Pentecost.’ This simple refrain raises an important theological question: Is this how we should think about Pentecost? Should Christians be praying for another one? Or has God already given us what we’re asking for?”

6 Ways to Lead Better Bible Study Discussions, HT to Challies. I wince when the primary question in a Bible study is “What does this passage mean to you?” This article shares better ways of thinking through the text and drawing out its meaning.

Am I a Mission Colonizer? HT to Challies. “Many people believe that a missionary should never go in the first place. Or that if he does, his work should only be humanitarian. He should never dare to try to persuade someone to change their beliefs. That’s sort of the mantra of our culture today, isn’t it? You can believe whatever you want as long as you don’t impose it on someone else. Kind of ironic, actually. The people who say we shouldn’t impose our beliefs on other people are, in fact, imposing that very belief on other people. They are making personal autonomy the highest value. But who gets to decide that’s the highest value?”

How to Execute: The Discipline of Following Through, HT to Redeeming Productivity. “Most people can make a plan. Planning is fun. You get to dream, scheme, and visualize a future where everything is awesome. But executing plans? A lot of people struggle with that.”

Thank God my salvation does not depend on my frail hold on him,
but his mighty grasp on me. Martyn Lloyd-Jones

Friday’s Fave Five

Posted on August 22, 2025 by Barbara Harper

It’s been a full week! I’m jumping right in with its blessings, along with Susanne and friends at Living to Tell the Story. Feel free to join in!

1. Family time. My oldest son is here from RI and my youngest took a few days off. Jason had to work but has a more flexible schedule. We’ve enjoyed lots of talking, laughing, feasting, and game-playing.

2. Jeremy’s birthday. I’m so glad he could be here for it!

3. My birthday. My family made it a very special day.

Note to self–close the door to the garbage can cabinet before pictures. 🙂

3. Guys camping trip. All the guys except Jesse went camping Monday through Wednesday. Mittu went up for a while Monday, and she, Jesse, and I went up Tuesday and enjoyed Jim’s grilled burgers. They had a lovely campsite near a lake.

I didn’t want to do the full camping experience for a number of reasons, but I also felt a little left out of the time together. But maybe with all the health issues of the last few weeks, it was good to have a quiet day at home Monday.

4. Timothy’s thank you card. Timothy loved the camping excursion, especially fishing with Granddad. Mittu drew this picture and Timothy wrote a thank-you note inside to Jim for taking them camping.

I love that she included the little bat (on the left) who flew into the grass of their site, yelped, and died.

5. Power restored. Our power went out about 1:30 this morning. The community Facebook group said it was due to a wreck involving a telephone pole. I was pleased to see many people post comments about praying for those involved in the accident. Thankfully, the temperatures weren’t bad without AC, and Jim has a lot of camping devices to help. Power was just restored a short time ago (thus the lateness of this post).

And that’s it for us! We have a few more days together, and we’re going to enjoy them thoroughly!

How was your week?

Review: Where We Belong

Posted on August 20, 2025 by Barbara Harper

In Lynn Austin’s novel, Where We Belong, sisters Rebecca and Flora Hawes are traveling across the Sinai Desert on camels.

That’s particularly unusual for 1892. But neither sister is a conventional Victorian woman.

Rebecca was often bored in school as a child, thirsting for adventure. She convinced Flora to go with her to the train station and shipping line to amass information to persuade their father to take them on a trip overseas. He listened to their reasoning and planned a trip for the following summer. Rebecca found she had an affinity for languages, learning French and a little Italian for the trip. Later she added Greek so she could read Homer in his native tongue and Arabic for another trip.

She thought each journey would get the traveling and adventure bug out of her system. Instead, each journey made her want to travel more. Her father had always urged his daughters to find God’s purpose for their lives. But what could God do with a woman who loved travel, adventure, and learning and had enough wealth to finance any journey she wanted to undertake? The answer came in a surprising way.

Flora was a little more pliable and gracious than Rebecca. Flora didn’t usually initiate adventures, but she could be talked into going and always enjoyed them. She, too, struggled with assessing God’s plan for her life and almost let herself be molded into someone else’s plan for her. But then God’s leading became clear.

Each woman’s story is told in a series of flashbacks, always returning to their current desert trek. Their mother died shortly after Flora was born. They live through a meddling aspiring stepmother, the death of their father, and the Great Chicago Fire. A chance purchase of an ancient manuscript in Cairo turns out to be from an early copy of Scripture, fueling Rebecca’s desire to find more. With the recent publication of Darwin’s book and the tide of scientific discovery turning against the Bible’s truths. Rebecca feels that finding proof of such old copies of Scripture will help prove its validity and reliability. Along the way, she finds a much more personal reason for her quest.

The story is divided into five parts, each told from a different point of view: first Rebecca’s, then Flora’s, then Soren’s and Kate’s, two troubled young people that the sisters help, then back to Rebecca’s. At first Soren’s and Rebecca’s stories just seemed added on, but they did end up blending well with the overarching narrative.

Themes include the nature of Christianity, the Bible’s veracity and reliability, the responsibility of privilege, compassion for the less fortunate, being your own unique person, and finding your purpose in the world and the family of God.

I listened to the audiobook narrated by Mary Beth Light, speeding the rate up to 1.2 since the recording was a bit slow.

I saw that the novel was based on two real-life sisters, but the audiobook didn’t include the author’s notes, and my library didn’t have the book for me to look up that information. I didn’t find much information online except for a reference to twin sisters Agnes Smith Lewis and Margaret Dunlop Gibson, who also traveled, spoke many languages, and found one of the earliest copies of the gospels at Saint Catherine’s Monastery in Egypt. It looks like the novel included many details of the sisters lives but changed some, making them sisters rather than twins, describing different men from their real-life husbands, and detailing different charitable work than what’s listed.

I enjoyed the book and the trajectory of the characters’ lives.

When People Are Late to Church

Posted on August 17, 2025 by Barbara Harper

There was a period of time in another church and state when I was sometimes late to services. One man in particular noticed and commented. For instance, one day when I walked in before the service started, he handed me a bulletin and said, “Once in a row!”

I honestly wasn’t late that often. I don’t know if he was teasing or meant his comments as a prod or jab. I don’t know why it didn’t anger or hurt me. I had to work with him in various capacities, so maybe subconsciously I didn’t want there to be trouble between us.

What he didn’t know was that during that time, I started developing IBS (Irritable Bowel Syndrome). I didn’t know that’s what it was at the time. I just knew I was having unexpected, unexplained digestive problems. No matter how much extra time I gave myself to get ready, I couldn’t count on my body cooperating with me.

Granted, I was sometimes late for other reasons. But all too often, my lateness was due to physical issues that I didn’t want to explain.

In fact, the pressure of trying to get there on time, not wanting to draw attention to myself, not wanting to distract anyone by being late, all made the physical issues worse.

Friends who have traveled to other countries talk about the different regard for time in various places. Seeing someone you know and stopping to talk to them is considered more thoughtful and respectful than rushing past them to get somewhere on time.

But in our Western culture, lateness is regarded as disrespect for those you’re meeting with and a lack of discipline.

And that’s often true. It is frustrating to go to a meeting that doesn’t start for fifteen to twenty minutes because several people weren’t there on time. Then the meeting gets done twenty minutes later than planned. Plus, people streaming in late can be distracting.

But sometimes it just can’t be helped.

Once in another church in another state, we were waiting on one of my sons to get done in the bathroom so we could leave for church. We lived in a split-level, and the door leading downstairs was open. As my son in the bathroom upstairs flushed the toilet, we saw water pour from that bathroom floor through the ceiling below in what was our laundry and workroom. The toilet had clogged, and I guess we had never told my son not to keep flushing the toilet in that case. Somehow we mopped up the mess and miraculously still made it to church on time. We hadn’t told anyone about our morning scenario, but the only thing I remember the guest speaker saying that day was “We just don’t know what it takes for some people to get to church.”

While we don’t want to have a casual attitude about arriving at church (or anywhere else) on time, we shouldn’t have an overly judgmental attitude, either.

Sometimes when I am running late due to stomach issues, especially in the first church I mentioned, I’ve thought, “You know, if I am late, everyone is going to notice. But not many will notice if I don’t show up at all. Maybe I should just stay home.”

I saw a meme recently that went something like this: The writer was late to church, and people scowled and frowned at him for disturbing the service. But when he was late to an AA meeting, everyone was concerned and asked, “Is everything okay?” They realized that his lateness may have indicated he almost didn’t make it, and they knew how desperately he needed to be there.

Hopefully we can find a balance between encouraging people to be on time for church for smoother functioning of the body, yet not judging them when they’re not. We should do our best to be at church on time, just as we would for our jobs or catching an airplane (for me, I’ve found I have to get up four hours before leaving in order for medicine to kick in on time). But, as the guest speaker at my former church said, we don’t know what some people go through just to get to church. A latecomer needs to be met with welcoming smiles of “We’re glad you’re here,” not frowns, scowls, or remarks that make them feel they should not have come.

(I often link up with some of these bloggers.)

Laudable Linkage

Posted on August 16, 2025 by Barbara Harper

Here are some of the posts that stood out to me this week:

None Too Old to Serve the King, HT to Chalmers Blog. “I love this scene with the feeble follower and the deposed king. What a touching moment for David, and a beautiful invitation to Barzillai. It reminds me that I serve the greater King David, and stirs in me the desire to “appear with him in glory” as he rides across the Jordan (Colossians 3:4). Does it do the same for you? I want us to imitate this elderly saint by meeting the King in the wilderness and serving him until our dying day.”

Reading the Bible for the Ten Thousandth Time. “By instinct we know that first-time readers of the Bible need guidance. But long-time readers need help too. In this article we’ll explore some of the ways to combat boredom and lethargy for experienced Bible readers.”

A Biblical Template for Prayers of Confession from Daniel 9. HT to Knowable Word. “For God’s promises and sure word aren’t a reason for inactivity and passivity. They’re fuel for confident prayer.” Though the author makes a case for corporate confession, these principles are true for private prayer as well.

All Those Things We Never Did, HT to Challies. “There remains a powerful temptation in midlife to nurse and rehearse dreams unfulfilled. The loop snags and captures with: We never did this, we never went here, we never bought this . . . The all those things we never did is a thorny and fruitless path, often culminating in a sour, self-centered existence. For the Christian, all those things we never did may humbly be replaced with: Your kingdom come; your will be done.“

The Picture on the Nightstand, HT to Challies. “When a marriage is strong, it is a fortress. It shields what is fragile. Spouses are safe. Children thrive. Its strength creates overflowing benefit into entire communities. When a spouse breaks the marriage covenant, the impact is brutal. It exploits vulnerability. Spouses bleed. Children bear the weight. And the effects ripple outward.”

Should You Take Your Children to a Funeral? “Whatever the size or venue, here’s a question for parents to consider: should you take your children to a funeral? My answer is a sure yes, and here are several reasons why.”

The Rare Jewel of Contentment in Childlessness. “Paul’s testimony of contentment encouraged Bethany and me to ask God for that kind of contentment in our state of childlessness. Jeremiah Burroughs describes Christian contentment as ‘that sweet, inward, quiet, gracious frame of spirit, which freely submits to and delights in God’s wise and fatherly disposal in every condition.’”

Silent Women, Speaking Women, HT to Challies. This is one of the clearest explanations I’ve seen on the Bible passages about whether and when women are to teach in church.

Beware the New Notebook Energy. “A new planner gives me an avenue to blame my lack of follow-through on a bad system. If I can blame the system, that saves me from the day-in and day-out-ness of life. I call this New Notebook Energy: fleeing actual responsibility and good habits in favor of reorganizing and starting again.”

Ways to See and Support Foster Families. “All of a sudden, we were a part of the foster system, which came with all of the staff, the rules and regulations, the visits with social workers, the paperwork, the doctor’s visits, and so much more. I quickly realized that before this happened, I didn’t understand how much support the foster families in our church probably needed from me but hadn’t been getting. So I thought I would outline a few things that each of us can do to help foster families in our churches.”

Ten minutes’ praying is better than a year’s murmuring. Charles Spurgeon

Friday’s Fave Five

Posted on August 15, 2025 by Barbara Harper

Another week has flown by! I’m joining Susanne and friends at Living to Tell the Story to share the week’s blessings.

1. Jeremy is home! My oldest son flew in from RI yesterday. He was delayed a day when bad weather caused his first flight to take off late, missing his connection to the last flight of the day. But even the process of finding a hotel and shuttle bus went smoothly, and he arrived the next day without any further issues.

2. Messages from Timothy about tornado sirens he had seen and made, from Jeremy about his trip (apparently you don’t have to take your shoes off for security any more!), from Mittu asking to bring dinner over, from the whole family with observations and thoughts to share.

3. An overdue haircut. I was getting pretty shaggy.

4. A visit with the cardiologist PA. He was very apologetic about the delay in getting scheduled for the cardioversion. Their whole floor only gets so many slots at the hospital’s operating rooms next door. And their scheduler was pulled somewhere else in the office when they were short-handed, so she was unable to get to her work (which doesn’t seem wise to me, but I guess in a crunch you do what you have to do to process the patients there). He answered my questions well and felt we could stay at my current medication level.

5. Eating out and take-out. is always appreciated, but especially on a busy week. We’ve always gone to the Kern’s Food Hall with family but ventured out by ourselves this week. Then we got Wendy’s one night and Mexican food another.

How was your week?