His mother was up in front leading us in worship.
A summer Sunday morning in church.
The words of the songs were up on the screen for all of us to sing our praises to the Lord.

I have watched this young woman stand before me on other Sundays.
I saw something different this Sunday morning.
I saw discipleship lived out before me.

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I often play a silly game.
I play it in the snow.
I play it in the rain.
I play it in the sand.

I like to leave footprints.
It’s not that I’m intentional about leaving the footprints.
They just happen naturally.
I am intentional about walking in them once I’ve left them.

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We read a lot of books in our family.
I used to read to my children all the time.
They had their favorite books.
I had mine.

Their favorite books usually prevailed.
It wasn’t their fault that I had read the book a thousand times before.
With each child, the story was new, refreshing, and in many cases applicable.
That was the case with one particular book.

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Like most men, my husband loves gadgets.
Like most engineers, my husband likes to tweak the gadgets he already owns.
He enjoys finding new ways to do things so the load is a bit lighter.

Often, in our married life, I have asked him to refrain from the bells and whistles.
Refrain from buying the microwave that can do all sorts of things.
Refrain from installing the thermostat that is programmable if you have a PhD degree.

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It was almost the end of our Bible study.
A woman shared a memory as it related to a passage we were studying.
Old feelings and emotions came to the surface.
She seemed embarrassed that she placed her heart on the table.

Nothing happens apart from God’s will.
There are no accidents.
There are no coincidences.
One woman’s heart helped other women’s hearts.

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I never imagined being a tour guide.
There were the unofficial assignments of giving a tour at school.
There were the unofficial hostess tours as I showed someone my home.
My children have been tour guides on their college campuses.

Being a tour guide is an important job.
You show someone where to go so that they will feel comfortable in the new surroundings.
Of course, you have to know your way around first.
That is the challenge.

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My husband volunteers to build houses.
Each year he travels either nationally or internationally and builds homes.
He builds decent affordable homes for people in need.
In a few months, he will be going to Peru to build there.

As an engineer, he has always had a love of building and repairing.
This is a way he can utilize those skills and help others.
He has met many fascinating people through the years, all around the world.

My husband has noticed something that is more a cultural statement than an observation.

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In three weeks the opening ceremony for the Sochi 2014 Olympic Winter Games begins.
Athletes from around the world will gather to compete in their sport.
The best of the best are hoping to medal in their specific event.

To get to that place takes years and years of training.
There are injuries and pain along the way.
However, the athletes are determined, driven; nothing will deflect them from their goal.

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Going through old photographs, I came across it.
I remember it like yesterday.
Our oldest son following his dad with his little Fisher Price lawn mower.
The mower that you could put bubble liquid inside to make bubbles as you went along.
The mower that never had bubble liquid inside since Daddy’s mower didn’t have bubbles.

Footsteps.
Following the one that goes before.

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My daughter, who teaches second grade, has compassion for her students.
No matter how well she plans, things happen and the plans have to be written in pencil.
A child gets sick and the janitor needs to be called, someone else is a bit teary and needs extra attention; another needs to use the bathroom.
She has been there herself; she has been seven years old.

When she was right around that age, she was playing outside with her sister and brothers.
We lived in a house surrounded by woods then and running in and around trees was fun.
One day, as she ran past a tree with a low branch, a twig hit her in the eye.
She came running inside, crying, with her hand over her eye.

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