Linda Frey, Future Farmers Of America Sweetheart, 1982 Sonoma County FairThe FFA Sweetheart Tradition: White Corduroy Meets Rural Royalty In the heart of Rural America, where homecoming courts reign in autum and prom courts in spring, another tradition has long held a...
Today, my college-aged son and daughter, along with their older sister, witnessed the horrifying video of Charlie Kirk (b. 1993) being shot — an act of political violence that Americans across the spectrum are condemning. I have not been this shaken since the...
Something remarkable is happening in the world of Christian influencers, and it’s playing out on Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, and most importantly, in the Water. While New York Times bestselling authors in Christian publishing work their way through book tours,...
From Devotionals to Deconstruction: The Rise and Fall of Christian Female BloggersFrom Devotionals to Deconstruction: The Rise and Fall of Christian Female Bloggers The Rise of the Christian Blogger In the early 2000s, a new genre appeared on the internet: the...
Driving through Hughes County, Oklahoma, I passed a tent revival pitched by the side of a two-lane state highway. I whipped a U-ey right there in the middle of the road and circled back to snap a few pictures. It was around 10:30 a.m. and the sun had climbed high...
In the ambient anxiety of life, it’s rare to encounter someone who is truly ordained by God. Someone whose very presence is a prayer. Monk Abel (also Monkavel or Монах Авель), the Russian Orthodox monk in purple monastic robe and cap, is one of those rare anointed...
Back in the 1900s, 😆 we carried metal lunch boxes to school that featured our favorite cartoon characters. We also wore KISS concert T-shirts neatly tucked into our jeans. 👖 We liked to look clean-cut while we listened to bands that spit blood 🩸, played flaming 🔥...
[A Journal Entry, 6.2.21] I feel the sense of possibilities I feel the wrench of hard realities The focus is sharp in the city The Camera Eye, Rush, 1981 When it comes to my kids' stuff, I'm a hoarder. There are dozens of bins in the basement filled with all their...
Auld Lang Syne was written by Robert Burns in 1788, 100 years before the above picture was taken in Manhattan on New Year's Eve, 1988. Happy New Year! May God hold you in the palm of His hand. Should Auld Acquaintance be forgot and never brought to mind Should...
Emily Ley, author, blogger, and founder of The Simplified Planner®, has written a breathtaking book for tweens called Grace Not Perfection: Believing You're Enough In A World of Impossible Expectations. It's the young-reader version of her original book, Grace Not...
1972: 4th Grade Class, Meadowbrook Elementary, Eatontown, New Jersey To The Black and Brown Girls Who Go Missing Before They Go Missing by Elisabet Velasquez Maybe it was because of the last time you ran away with the boy who looked like God. Maybe it was because of...