Seventeen Inches Thirty years ago, in Nashville, Tennessee, during the first week of January, 1996, more than 4,000 baseball coaches descended upon the Opryland Hotel for the 52nd annual ABCA’s convention. While I waited in line to register with the hotel staff, I heard other more veteran coaches rumbling about the line-up of speakers scheduled to present during the … Read More
Thank you for the Thorns of the Past Sandra felt as low as the heels of her crocks when she pulled open the florist shop door, against a November gust of wind. Her life had been as sweet as a spring breeze and then, in the fourth month of her second pregnancy, a “minor” automobile accident stole her joy. … Read More
Imagine that you had won the prize in a contest. Each morning your bank would deposit $86,400 into your private account, with rules that read: 1. Everything that you did not spend during each day would be withdrawn from your account. 2. You may not simply transfer money into some other account. 3. You may only spend It. 4. Each … Read More
THE PEARLS The cheerful girl with bouncy golden curls was almost five. Waiting with her mother at the checkout stand, she saw them: a circle of glistening white pearls in a pink foil box. “Oh please, Mommy, can I have them? Please, Mommy, please?” Quickly the mother checked the back of the little foil box and then looked back into … Read More
A first grade teacher seated her students in a circle. She asked them what they wanted to be when they grew up. One by one, each child got up and announced, “I’d like to be a nurse like my mother,” or “I want to be a banker like my father,” or “I want to be a teacher like you, Miss … Read More
When an old lady died in the geriatric ward of a small hospital, it was believed that she had nothing left of any value. Later, when the nurses were going through her meager possessions, they found this poem. Its quality and content so impressed the staff that copies were made and distributed to every nurse in the hospital. Crabby Old … Read More
The Rich Family In Church By Eddie Ogan The Rich Family In Church • Original article • Original article in German (MS Word file) • Response • Responses to the response • Update on the author’s life • How to help Eddie I’ll never forget Easter 1946. I was 14, my little sister Ocy was 12, and my older sister … Read More
By Sister Helen P. Mrosla He was in the first third grade class I taught at Saint Mary’s School in Morris, Minn. All 34 of my students were dear to me, but Mark Eklund was one in a million. Very neat in appearance, but had that happy-to-be-alive attitude that made even his occasional mischievousness delightful. Mark talked incessantly. I had … Read More
As a writer I am always looking for inspiration. I can always tell that God has a sense of humor too, because my best inspirations often come at the most inconvenient times when I have nothing to write them down on. I can remember once years ago when I was walking with my children around a local lake in the … Read More
When a man spends his own money to buy something for himself, he is very careful about how much he spends and how he spends it. When a man spends his own money to buy something for someone else, he is still very careful about how much he spends, but somewhat less on what he spends it on. When a … Read More
