Meat for the Hungry

    FLAG robert-linder-fcFEnjBmm14-unsplash Almost fifty years ago now, my daughter and I took part in America’s 200 th Birthday with our church at the time, St. Jacob’s United Church of Christ. Lorrie was only eleven months old and not walking. So, when we marched in Salem, Ohio’s parade down State Street, you guessed it, I carried her the whole way. But at age 23, that wasn’t a problem for me.   Lorrie and I sported matching 1776 dresses and bonnets I had made, which remain hanging in my closet (I can’t bear to part with them). Before the parade, the women’s group at St. Jacob’s held a fashion show. All who were participating had the privilege of modeling their dresses. It was so fun, and I felt honored to be a part of my country’s celebration.   In 1976, it never occurred to me I would be able to celebrate America’s 250 th Birthday , yet here I am, much older, and I hope, wiser. Today, May 15, 2026, marks fifty days until this second monumental celeb...

  www.vecteezy.com " Grace to you and peace from God the Father and our Lord Jesus Christ, who gave Himself for our sins , that He might deliver us from this present evil age , according to the will of our God and Father, to whom be glory forever and ever. Amen." [1]   The world is getting crazier and crazier, and peace is a rare commodity. News outlets air lies made to sound like sensible truth, spewed by educated, stylishly dressed individuals, leaving us to wonder what to believe. Two factions. Two contradicting accounts of the same event, yet only one can be true. Tension rises, and anger festers between the two, and we're caught in the middle. Uncertainty chases peace out the door, and before it can slam shut, their evil schemes, cloaked in piety, sneak in to deceive.   Would we recognize the evil and reject it? [2] Could we be deceived, trapped by the enemy, and end up much worse off? With all the trickery of men and media, how are we supposed to dis...

  www.freepik.com Have you ever read Sonnet 43 by Elizabeth Barrett Browning, How Do I Love Thee ? While I may have read it a time or two, I can only remember and lamely quote the first twenty-four words. “How do I love thee? Let me count the ways. I love thee to the depth and breadth and height My soul can reach…” [1]   Browning was born in 1806 and died in 1861. She didn’t live very long by our current lifespan, but she made the most of her fifty-five years with the beautiful words of her poems or sonnets, especially this one. As I reread Sonnet 43, I thought of young love and the passion I felt as I met, dated, and married my husband. In the early days of our love , I walked three feet off the ground and easily could have quoted these words to him. And I just might have at one point or another.   But after all these years, as much as I love my husband and still feel excited and privileged to be his wife, he is my earthly husband. I await my heavenly Bridegro...