The professor stepped back to check the spelling of the word he'd just written on the chalkboard. "There should be two u's in Weltanschauung," I ventured timidly. All heads turned my direction. I was the only underclassman in the small Ancient History class (and the only girl). The professor grabbed an eraser and added a "u." My classmates groaned. They feared I was brilliant and would ruin the class curve. What they didn't know is that German was my first language. "Weltanschauung" is German for worldview, or the lens through which we view life. Everyone has a worldview. Continue Reading
7 Important Lessons my Father Taught Me
He arrived in the United States with $70 to his name, not knowing a word of English. Under the stigma of having fought on the German side in World War II, my father set out to build a new life for his family. He succeeded. We held a memorial in Papa’s honor this last Saturday, and I’ve been reflecting on lots of childhood memories… …traditional Christmas Eve (Heilige Abend) celebrations, starting with Papa reading Luke Chapter 2 from the German Bible and leading us in German Christmas hymns .… two awesome trips to Germany in my teens. .. …how Papa would take me out for real Continue Reading
The Most Powerful, Doable Way to Pray for Your Children
If I asked, "Do you think you pray enough for your kids?", my guess is you'd say no. Or maybe you'd say you don't feel very good at praying for them. Maybe your best shot is, "Thank you, Jesus, that I didn't kill them today. Again." When it comes to prayer, a little structure can be super helpful. One of my favorite ways to pray for my children, and now my grandchildren, is to pray the Scriptures over them. Here's one idea: the book of Proverbs has 31 chapters, one for each day of the month. Read a chapter a day, and then choose one or more verses and personalize them as a prayer Continue Reading
How the Valley of the Shadow Points to a Hopeful New Year
On December 30th, I got the phone call. That phone call. It was my mother, letting me know my father had passed. I sank onto the couch, wind knocked out of me, seismic shift wrenching my soul. Dealing with death is a strange way to enter the New Year. No matter how elderly a loved one is, no matter how many physical challenges they have, no matter how much we realize they are close to the end… death is still a shock. My son Sam described his feelings this way: “It’s like going to a movie with lots of plot twists that never resolve, and then all of a sudden the credits are Continue Reading