I have had it!  I wasn’t going to post anything on the subject.  In fact I’ve avoided going near my laptop since Wednesday for fear that I might start typing and never stop.  But my hands ache from sitting on them as I stare at a blank document. On Tuesday this week I heard about an opportunity to support Chick-fil-A, an establishment that I visit about once a week because […]

I guess you could say I’m an Olympic watcher, not a fanatic, or a die-hard, but I do get excited and inspired every couple of years when the Olympics are televised. As I’ve watched the 2012 Olympics I’ve wondered something though. Does a silver or bronze medal matter anymore, or is it all about gold? I was talking with my mom on the phone. (She is definitely a die-hard Olympic […]

Last week, my 11 year-old daughter, Maddie, sent me an email with an attachment.  The email stated that she had written her own devotional blog post–for pretend.  I was curious and quickly opened it.  What I found was not “pretend” at all, but very, very real. (I think the word she was looking for was “amateur.”) The point is that her devotional was about two things that speak to her […]

This was the conversation, I’m sorry, the panic-stricken, terror filled, pleas I heard coming from the upstairs of our little suburban home recently. “Maddie, save me. Please hurry. I’m in your house. Come get me. Quick.” “I’m coming Izzy. Where are you? I don’t see you. Izzy, Izzy, where are you?” “Maddie, come back to your house. I’m dying.” Oh good grief. I showed up in the hallway between their […]

A moment is a brief period of time, often in the present. To define is, “to determine or identify the essential qualities or meaning of.” Recently, the staff pastors at our church asked me if I would officiate at a memorial service, and I agreed. The deceased was a man in his mid 50’s who had died by suicide. Some of our church members worked with him, but the family […]

Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength. ’The second is this: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’ There is no commandment greater than these.” Mark 12:30-31 Several years ago in a church service, the pastor proposed a question, “Are you a grace person or a truth person?” I should have known this would be […]

[I realize that lately I’ve focused a few of my posts on weather related themes.  This one is no different.  Weather keeps moving across the Rockies giving me inspiration for stories.] It was 8:30 on Monday morning.  We had been plagued by dry temperatures producing destructive wildfires in our state, but temperatures had cooled and we were enjoying some much needed moisture. I was driving Izzy across town to her […]

Let me introduce you to my dad, Mark Teats.  He and my mom have been visiting from Arizona this past week.  On a whim, I asked him to be a guest writer on my blog, and he said yes!  Thanks Dad!     It was a Phoenix area, combined law enforcement, DUI task force. One valley city was targeted, and several agencies combined efforts to stop and process drivers “under […]

They were a nice looking couple, maybe in their mid-sixties. I’m not sure what drew me to observe them. Perhaps it was what they were purchasing—clothes, shoes, and a belt or two. I noticed they had great taste in clothing. After all our paths were crossing at the factory outlet mall in Silverthorne. As they were checking out the clerk asked the gentlemen if he would like to donate $5 […]