Category: Real-Life Stories

A Visit to Raspberry Island Lighthouse

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Lynn sat on the shore of Lake Superior, musing over her visit to the Raspberry Island Lighthouse. 

Built in 1863, this lighthouse guided sailors along the Apostle Islands in Lake Superior. Lynn had soaked in the stories along with the sun and Superior breezes. She could have gone without the biting flies. Must bring insect repellant next time.

Nasty insects aside, it had been a lovely excursion. The lively guide had given her several nuggets to think about, but at this moment she wondered what the lighthouse would say if it could speak for itself. Inhabited by light keepers (during the shipping season) and often their families and guests for over eighty years, surely the walls could share quite the history lesson. Perhaps a dramatic comedy. Also, Lynn realized, a tragedy or two. What were the breakfast conversations? Did the light keeper grumble when his assistants didn’t hold up to his own work ethic? How did the children spend their time on an island that was practically their own world? Did they wake during the night to make sure the light was still shining like their father did? 

Maybe she could find a book of the stories to take home.

Lynn watched the soft waves come in to shore, their lapping the backdrop to her thoughts. What scenes of life would the walls of her own home share if given the opportunity? They are always watching after all.

Lynn closed her eyes and smiled. God is always watching, too, beyond the four walls of my home, even in the remote places like this breathtaking bay in the greatest Great Lake.

“The eyes of the Lord are in every place, keeping watch on the evil and the good.” (Proverbs 15:3, ESV)                                                                                                                                                                                                                                      

“If I take the wings of the morning and dwell in the uttermost parts of the sea, even there your hand shall lead me, and your right hand shall hold me.” (Psalm 139:9-10, ESV)

 

13 Stories of America – Part II

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To see the first seven stories of America, visit the previous post. 

8. Caddie Woodlawn by Carol Ryrie Brink – Ah, yes, here I am talking about Caddie Woodlawn again! I love this story because I consider it a “living book” and it touches on important players in the American pageant – Native Americans.

9. Defeat of the Ghost Riders (Trailblazer Book #23) by Dave & Neta Jackson – Ingenuity and perseverance could be called two of Americans’ greatest gifts, and Mary McLeod Bethune is a great example of both. Funding a school with homemade sweet potato pies? Oh, yes! Through the eyes of fictional Celeste, readers meet Mrs. Bethune as she is starting her school for girls in Florida. One line that especially struck me was her quoting of Lincoln’s words, “We destroy our enemies when we make them our friends.” 

10. Little Britches by Ralph Moody – America would not be what she is without her cowboys and (so far) Ralph Moody in the Little Britches series is my favorite. The escapades of this hardworking fellow – told by himself –  are sure to bring the gift of laughter to you and your family. 

11. The Adventures of the Northwoods series by Lois Walfrid-Johnson – As America stepped into the 20th century, immigrants from the world over continued to pour through her gates. Readers young and old will come to understand the lives of immigrant families who settled in the Midwest through the eyes of Irish-Swedish Katherine O’Connell, her stepbrother Anders and their friends. Questions like “What was Minneapolis like at the turn of the century?”, “What was it like to go to a one-room school?” and “What dangers did miners in the Upper Peninsula face?” will be answered. Throw in intriguing mysteries and these historical-fiction tales are a mixture of education and excitement – can’t beat that!

12. The Chicago Years by Nancy Rue – It seems that we learn a lot about the War for Independence, the Civil War, the pioneer era, the Great Depression and the World Wars, but somehow we skip the 1920s. This series by Nancy Rue is here to change all that! Rudy Hutchinson and his twin sister move to Chicago to live with their grandmother and are soon up to their earlobes in adventures. Along the way, readers will discover Italian-American culture, German-American culture, Jewish-American culture, the work of Jane Adams at Hull House, the cultural trends of the 20s and, of course, the mob! 

13. The American Adventure series by various authors – The American saga is told from the journey of the Mayflower to the end of WWII in this series that traces a family tree. While the 48 – yes, forty-eight! – books in this series are out-of-print, you can still find many copies available (inexpensively) online. The hunt is worthwhile because this series paints a portrait of America’s history in such a memorable way. Even issues like the internment of Japanese-Americans on the West Coast during WWII are faced. Another benefit of this lengthy series is the opportunity to see how one generation’s choices affect the next. If you are looking for a way to engage children in history or if you want a pleasant way to learn for yourself, I recommend this series.  

There you go! Thirteen stories of America. Do you have a different favorite on your shelf? I’d love to hear about it. Send me a message anytime here. 

13 Stories of America to Celebrate Independence Day – Part I

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Since this 4th of July marks the USA’s 240th birthday, here are 13 stories (in honor of the 13 colonies) that not only trace the American saga through time but also illustrate hard work, sacrifice, family and faith. After all, these traits are just as much a part of America’s story as the characters who lived them. 

1. 1776 by David McCullough – I remember being surprisingly enthralled by 1776. While I love the illustrations and facsimiles tucked within the illustrated edition, it was the audio edition that made me a fan. David McCullough’s work is exceptional, not only because of his research but also his understandability.

2. The Midnight Ride of Paul Revere by Longfellow – A nation without its poems and ballads would be like a person without a heart and blood…or something like that. At any rate, The Midnight Ride of Paul Revere is one of the poems that captures the spirit of the War for Independence at its very start. Just make sure you read a strictly historical account of Paul Revere’s ride to get the whole story without the poetic license!

3. The Williamsburg Years by Nancy Rue – This series was the star of one of my posts in 2015. If you want to feel like you’ve stepped back in time onto the streets of Williamsburg when patriots walked, this series is for you! 

4. Abigail Adams – Her Letters (Voices from the Past) by Abigail Adams – What better way to learn about the world during America’s birth than through the letters of one of her heroines? Abigail Adams’s letters bear testimony to the courage and struggles of American patriots during the nation’s early days. Reading is lovely, but if you don’t have time to read, try listening to this audio adaptation. By listening, I think you might have a little extra spark in your imagination to picture Abigail at her dusk, pen in hand, while the vibrations of bombs shake her study…and so much more!

5. “The American Revelation” (Parts I & II) by John Fornof – Here is another story for your ears. Perhaps many of us are in the same boat with Marvin Washington – ignorant about the contributions of African-Americans to the War for Independence. This compelling, two-part tale from Adventures in Odyssey takes Marvin – and you – on a journey back in time that will leave you with unforgettable knowledge. 

6. Up from Slavery by Booker T. Washington – I read Up from Slavery in middle school (I think it was then!) when I did a report on Booker T. Washington. All these years later, I still think it’s an excellent way to learn about the life of an African-American post-Civil War, especially because Booker wrote it himself. 

7. The Little House series by Laura Ingalls Wilder – America has never been all patriots or political movers. It is also pioneers. Pioneers like the Ingalls family who worked hard, enjoyed simple pleasures and loved well – valuable lessons for today’s Americans. As I’ve mentioned in another post, this series had a profound effect on my life, and I hope it will continue to be read and enjoyed for generations to come. 

Stay tuned for Part 2! Until then, happy reading/listening, and – for all my American friends – may you have a Happy Independence Day! 

 

Once Upon a Town: The Miracle of the North Platte Canteen (Revisited)

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Ten minutes was all they had. Ten minutes to share a kind word and some home-cooking. Ten minutes to send off the American boys who might never come home.

So out came the sandwiches, out came the angel food cakes, on came the jukebox and on went the coffee. After all, ten minutes was all they had.

Can you picture it? The troop train clangs to a stop and young soldiers pour off. Mothers and daughters hand out plates of food as if serving their own sons and brothers. What would the hospitality and kind words mean to you if you were heading off to war? How would angel food cake taste when you knew it would be the last you would have in a long time or when you’d been eating military food? What would you do with the pen-pal address hidden in your popcorn ball?

This is the story of the North Platte Canteen. During WWII, the North Platte Canteen was a hopping place as troop trains stopped in that small Nebraska town on their way across the country. North Platte’s people saw this as an opportunity. Why not seize those ten-minute stops to encourage those American soldiers?

So the homemakers got together. Soon the husbands and children joined in to whisk egg whites with forks, serve sandwiches, form sticky popcorn balls, and chip in their pocket money. My own Grandpa Dan who grew up in Nebraska remembers that his mother sent money to support the Canteen. I’ve wondered if my Grandpa Ken who served in the Air Force during WWII ever stopped in North Platte.

A special thank-you to my Grandpa Dan and Grandma Ruth for sharing Once Upon a Town with me and for Grandpa's service in the US Navy.

A special thank-you to my Grandpa Dan and Grandma Ruth for sharing Once Upon a Town with me and for Grandpa’s service in the US Navy.

And what was the impact of those ten minutes? Well, within the pages of Once Upon a Town: The Miracle of the North Platte Canteen by journalist Bob Greene, I discovered that North Platte became famous among American soldiers, families pulled together to serve, a little boy sold his shirt to raise money, a lifelong marriage began with a popcorn-ball connection, and decades later many of those involved teared up as they shared their Canteen stories. One soldier even took his children on a post-war road trip to show them the Canteen where they found his name in the guest book. These are the true stories of sacrifice, community, hard work and love that capture life on the homefront and show how mere minutes of kindness can leave a permanent impression and change many lives.

I found myself intrigued by the fact that serving especially scrumptious homemade food out of the Canteen to the soldiers was a private idea. It wasn’t a government project. It didn’t take a bureaucratic committee. It did take a host of volunteering homemakers, farmers and country children. What a great example of charity that is “relational, local and voluntary”!

While I don’t endorse the entire book – please read with discretion/some sections are not suitable for children – particular stories are definitely worthwhile. For me, Once Upon a Town: The Miracle of the North Platte Canteen was a productive read and a challenge. Could we be as dedicated as Mr. Greene to collecting the stories of those who have gone before us but with a focus on God’s glory? Would we be willing to give of our time and resources with such gusto if given an opportunity like the women, children and men at North Platte? Could they have used those ten-minute intervals more fruitfully for Christ’s Kingdom? Are similar opportunities waiting for us today? Hmmm. Food for thought.

May you all have a very blessed Memorial Day weekend. As we take time to relax with family and friends and eat something yummy like angel food cake, may we also take time to remember and be grateful for those who paid the ultimate sacrifice and for those who sacrifice in small and big ways on a daily basis to defend liberty for us. 

Woven

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Reflections on My “Sixty-Six Love Letter Challenge”

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A year ago on Valentine’s Day I wrote a post called “Sixty-Six Love Letters”. In that post I shared this quote,

“Read the Scripture, not only as a history, but as a love letter sent to you from God…” [1]

That quote inspired me to read all sixty-six of God’s love letters to me by Valentine’s Day 2016.

Well, I’ve had a couple of months to reflect since February 2016 and so am ready to share what I learned from my “Sixty-Six Love Letters Challenge”.

  • As I kept going through the challenge, I discovered I could read a lot more Scripture than I thought I could. When I started, a couple of chapters seemed like a lot. Then I found I could read 5 pages in a sitting! (That’s when I needed to catch up.) 🙂
  • Reading bigger chunks of Scripture in a sitting often made the story come together better. However, I’ll admit I do still like those three-chapter books that I could read through and feel like, “Hey, I just read a whole book of the Bible!”
  • I was awed by the poetry in the Bible and the power of God: 

    “He who made the Pleiades and Orion, and turns deep darkness into the morning and darkens the day into night, who calls for the waters of the sea and pours them out on the surface of the earth, the Lord is his name….” (Amos 5:8, ESV)

What a blessing it is to not worship or fear the stars or the sea but to worship the Lord Who not only made the stars and the sea but also directs the sea and names the stars (Psalm 147).

  • The Old Testament and the New Testament go together like Oreo cookies and cream filling – you simple cannot have one without the other. That may seem like a simple truth, but sometimes I think we like to value one or the other more. Of course, I’ll be the first one to admit that reading through the history books of the Old Testament was rough, but there is a profound truth in those books that ties into the New Testament: People cannot save themselves; we need a Savior. Then the prophets point us to Christ in so many ways. As Acts 10:43 (ESV) says, “To him all the prophets bear witness that everyone who believes in him receives forgiveness of sins through his name.”
  • Truly, “the word of God is living and active, sharper than any two-edged sword…” (Hebrews 4:12, ESV) Reading God’s Word changes your life. Sometimes it jabs and slices into areas that are uncomfortable. That’s called conviction. Don’t read these sixty-six love letters unless you want to come away looking (and living) at least a little different. 
  • Reading through the whole Bible in a year was great, but I didn’t delve into passages that left me with questions. This year I want to be about that delving deeper – even if it’s only into a handful of books. Like I tell my Spanish students, “It won’t really help you if you know it, but don’t really know what it means!” (Something like that!) So that’s my new goal for this year. Lord willing, sometime after Valentine’s Day 2017, I’ll be reporting in on how it went.

What about you? Did you take up the Sixty-Six Love Letters Challenge? How did it go? What did you learn? If you’re in the middle of it, how’s it going? I’d love to hear your thoughts, so type in a comment or send me a message. Blessings!

[1] Watson, Thomas: A Body of Divinity, http://thomaswatsonquotes.com/?s=love+letter

I Love to Tell the Story

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From Potter’s House: A Little of What I Carry with Me

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Potter’s House, Guatemala City

I’d like to share with you a bit of this place that is part of my story. Would you stop by for a moment?

When you think of a “potter’s house” you might think of a potter sitting at his potter’s wheel, turning cool, soft clay into pots, mugs, bowls and other useful treasures.

Sometimes you might see him reworking vessels that started to go wrong. He refashions them carefully and then – ta-da! – the piece of artwork is ready for service. 

Just like in Jeremiah 18:1-4 (ESV) – 
The word that came to Jeremiah from the LORD:
“Arise, and go down to the potter’s house, and there I will let you hear my words.” So I went down to the potter’s house, and there he was working at his wheel. And the vessel he was making of clay was spoiled in the potter’s hand, and he reworked it into another vessel, as it seemed good to the potter to do.”

Well, at this Potter’s House, there is no wheel and there are no newly-made pots. But you can still see the work of the Great Potter turning clay into useful treasures. He has many helpers who work hard themselves, but when it comes down to it, they stand in awe of the Great Potter’s handiwork.

You’ve figured out, right? The Great Potter is the Lord God, and at Potter’s House in Guatemala City He is in the business of forming and shaping lives – even reworking lives that were getting bent out of shape. His people are His vessels of clay as well as His treasures.

If you want to read more about the story and work of Potter’s House, you can at www.pottershouse.org.gt. The site does an excellent job of explaining more about the ministry.

What I want to share with you is a little of what I carry with me from Potter’s House…

1) There are no social barriers to God. The people Potter’s House serves work and live in the garbage dump. They don’t have wealth, position or possessions to make them “valuable”. Yet God cares about them as His special creation. He cares about them as much as He does middle-class and wealthy people. (Vice versa, God cares about wealthy and middle class people as much as He does poor people.) One story that’s been told at Potter’s House is about two little girls who prayed for a long time for three people. Those three people were a) an alcoholic from the garbage dump, b) one of the Guatemalan leaders of Potter’s House – for his English to improve especially; and c) for a particular President of the United States! Talk about stretching across social boundaries!

2) No one is out of God’s reach. Those people in the garbage dump may feel forgotten at times, but thanks to the work at Potter’s House, for thirty years they have had an opportunity to see that God has not forgotten them. Remember the alcoholic those two little girls prayed for? What were the “chances” of him ever giving up drinking there along the edge of Guatemala City’s garbage dump? It certainly couldn’t be said that he had a great support network. However, the Great Potter touched his life and made him a new vessel in His hands!

3) When God’s people see His work, it’s awesome. Have you ever been astounded by the skill of a craftsman as he works? That’s how I (and others) have felt as we’ve watched the Great Potter reshape lives at Potter’s House. Like I mentioned, the Great Potter has quite a few workers there who work hard and well, but – if we have our thinking straight – we know that God is directing everything. We, too, are only vessels in His hands. Of course, we know God is working all the time, but we don’t always feel like we can see it. I think this is especially true for the Americans who visit Potter’s House. In a way, Potter’s House ministers to these Americans just as much as to the Guatemalans because it is a place where they get to see the Great Potter at work. They come away with a sense of awe…and maybe with the clay of their lives reshaped a little! That’s why I say “when God’s people see His work, it’s awesome.”

There you go, my friends, that’s a little of what I carry with me from the Potter’s House in Guatemala City. There is so much more I could say and so many stories I’d like to share, but this is a start, and I’ll save the rest for another time.

Until then, I hope you know the thrill of seeing the Great Potter at work and feeling His hand on your life.

Twenty-Four Roses

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This weekend I am getting to share in a very special anniversary celebration complete with twenty-four roses.

Twenty-three of the roses represent twenty-three years since a very special day and the work of God we have witnessed during that time.  It’s definitely one of those Psalm 118:23 moments.

This is the LORD’s doing; it is marvelous in our eyes.      (Psalms 118:23, ESV)

The twenty-fourth rose represents hopes and prayers for the future as we watch God’s story continue unfolding like the petals of a rosebud. 

I am also celebrating a much smaller anniversary this weekend – my first year of blogging on “A Storyful Life” is now complete! It’s been a sweet year of pouring words and bits of my life into now 53 posts. What a lot has happened in the days since my frist post called “Endings“! Know that I’m thankful for each one of you who has shared this adventure with me, and I’m looking forward to another year full of stories, letters, poems and interesting characters!

A Schmuck Redefined: The Story of Mrs. Schmuck

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Someone once asked, “What’s in a name?” I don’t know if anyone definitively answered that question, but I do know names play an important part in who we are. Authors sometimes struggle to find the just-right name for a character. A name can tell a lot about the bearer of it. However, sometimes this can go too far. Sometimes a name simply doesn’t fit at all.

That was the story of Mrs. Schmuck. 

Schmuck! Imagine that as a last name. “Schmuck” can even be found in the dictionary with its definition of “a foolish or contemptible person”. 

But in this particular case, the New Oxford American Dictionary got it all wrong.

Mrs. Sandy Schmuck was the best English teacher I could have asked for in high school. Even if you hated grammar in your school years, I think you could have liked it if you had had a teacher like her. Day after day, she walked with us through American literature. From the journals of John Smith, John Winthrop and Sarah Knight, through the tales of Twain, Crane, Hawthorne, and Melville to the works of Elizabeth Eliot and Ray Bradbury. She also shared with us the poetry of Bradstreet, Wheatley, Longfellow, Bryant, and Dickinson to name a few. It was as if she took down the tapestry of America’s literary heritage and let us marvel at the masterpiece while also acknowledging the snags and threadbare patches. She knew her subject and made sure we got to know it, too!

Then there was the grammar, spelling and vocabulary. If you didn’t learn how to write well under her tutelage, it was your own fault. At least, that’s how it was for my class – even if no one else slept with their Handbook of Grammar & Composition under their pillow or read it at five o’clock in the morning like I did. 

Yet Mrs. Schmuck didn’t just dump knowledge into our heads. Sure, she kept her class moving right along, but she still took time to laugh with us at funny things that happened. I also remember her tearing up when we read Longfellow’s “Auf Wiedersehen” and she told us about someone dear to her who had passed away. Moments like that became the building blocks that created a sense of camaraderie. 

What Mrs. Schmuck did might seem basic. She taught literature, spelling, grammar and composition – subjects some people don’t care much about these days! Yet the spirit with which she did it was anything but basic. Just like she wasn’t defined by her name, she can’t be defined by only what she did. 

All of these things mixed together made me love Mrs. Schmuck. At the end of our last class, I cried. 

Yes, if you looked up “Schmuck” in Kristen’s Dictionary of the English Language the definition would read something like this…

Schmuck: noun; a master teacher; a person who reflects the character of Christ through orderliness, care for others and pursuit of excellence and who inspires others to do the same 

May the world have more Mrs. Schmucks, I say!