by Nancy Unks “How will I ever repay all the people who have helped me?” The question came from my newly widowed friend. Her husband had been the ultimate do-it-yourselfer. In 50 years of marriage, they had never hired a repairman for anything. When he died suddenly, she didn’t even have the number of a...
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“How Long, O Lord, How Long?”
By Nancy Unks Back to normal. Have you been talking about it? Wishing for it? Looking forward to it? Trying to remember it? I read an article about how we will know when the pandemic ends. Its conclusion: we won’t. And it won’t. Not in a Hollywood cinema sort of way where we triumphantly throw...
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i am n – An Opportunity to Grow
…but we rejoice in our sufferings, knowing that suffering produces endurance, 4 and endurance produces character, and character produces hope… (Romans 5:3-4) If I’ve read my pop psychology accurately, despair is the end product of suffering, not hope. In a culture obsessed with pursuing comfort and entertainment, the smallest amount of suffering, pain and inconvenience causes...
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Acquainted with Death
By Charlotte Gleason Robert Frost once wrote, “I have been acquainted with the night / I have walked out in the rain – and back in rain” (lines 1-2). In the past few months, our New Life community has taken this same walk, confronted with death and loss. I think many of us have at...
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My Family’s Story
By Ward Shope Several months ago, I sat speaking to my 91-year-old mother about family history. Over the years, I’ve heard bits and pieces about names and events of relatives long ago. Many colorful stories still linger in my mind regarding people I never met, and yet who had an influence on who we are...
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Giving from Weakness
By Sandy Elder The last few months have been challenging for me. I like to be active, I like to do, and I like to help others. But for a few months before June, I experienced severe sciatic pain and struggled to figure out how to get through my days. On June 27th, I had...
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Serving in Easton
By Karis and Chloe A couple of weeks ago, a group including both Jr. High and Sr. High youth traveled up to Easton, Pennsylvania to participate in a week-long Kids in Motion camp. Going into this experience, there were different emotions running through many of us. This week really made us look into our hearts...
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On the Way to Harmony
By David Almack Adapted from David’s blog, “FaithLit” with permission. See the full blog here. Driving to work one day recently, I noticed a sign proclaiming, “Harmony Township”. Sure enough, there is a place in rural NJ really called Harmony. The area is quite beautiful as you pass pastoral farmland and houses set back from...
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Summer Reading List
By Tim Shaw Whether lounging on a sandy beach, sitting lakeside in a comfy Adirondack chair, or chilling on the living room couch, spending time reading a good book is a quintessential summertime activity. Do you remember getting those summer reading lists when you were in school? Well, here are three of my favorite “classics”...
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Shifting Longings
By Tracy Eide Used by permission. You can read the original blog here I’m stuck on the first line of the well-known Psalm 23. “The Lord is my Shepherd, I shall not be in want”. I am not content to believe those happy watercolor paintings which depict a beautiful, flowery meadow with me as the...
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Baseball and the Gospel
By Tim Shaw We are not a huge sports family, partly because we don’t have the right TV and requisite cable subscription, but every spring we become a baseball family. Our older son started playing ten years ago—I can hardly believe how quickly time flies!—and now he plays at school and on our town’s American...
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Neighboring Well
By Charlotte Gleason When we first moved to our home on Buck Road, we did so rather disbelievingly. A few months earlier, we had been mentally moving ourselves to Western Pennsylvania with its small towns and open spaces; instead, God placed us in the suburbs of Philadelphia. He provided us with land and a home...