Coming to Christ at the tail end of the so-called “Jesus Movement”, I think I put more faith in the Holy Spirit’s ability to work in and around me than in any dogma or religious authority.  This was the gift of that era, as portrayed in the film Jesus Revolution.

But one of the instigators of the r...

The resort in Hawai’i where we spent spring break has a lovely feature called the Waikolohe Stream.  Our family called it the lazy river, and it was a favorite activity with everyone whether floating down it on a tube, walking or swimming its circuit or racing someone around and around.  But the laz...

Over thirty years ago, I was driving back to the Midwest from California for the summer with my children.  Just me. My husband had to work. Friends of ours from San Diego were headed the same way, so we decided to caravan.  However, they were planning to camp their way to Nova Scotia.  I borrowed so...

“I have stilled and quieted my soul, like a weaned child with its mother.” 
                                                         Psalm 131:2

A weaned child is no longer a baby and no longer counting on mother’s milk for sustenance.  But it’s still dependent on mom, still not ready to fly solo. ...

I love books!  That’s why it pains me when people start banning them.  Years ago, as I was walking through Grand Central Terminal in New York City, I bought a bracelet that said, “I read banned books”.  The books on the bracelet were some classics like To Kill a Mockingbird and Catcher in the Rye.  ...

One lone stick in his ample beak,
   he soars to his mate’s side
     building a nest for hatchlings
high in the rookery
   in the low country swamp…
     danger lurks in the murky depths,
gators waiting to grasp
   at any tumbled, fumbled eggs;
     but he stretches his forceful wings
and watchfully circles...

              A gelatinous
        judiciously gentle orb
       floats by…INCOMING!

 Liz McFadzean

a ghostly presence in his favorite haunt,
the heron silently stalks in the shallows
in striated afternoon light;
the apparition reflected in still water mesmerizes,
distracting him from his quest for food 

consumed with consuming, he beguiles
himself only momentarily, but finally
in hunger, pokes his bea...

    mired at low tide the
   star is separated from
       its constellation

Liz McFadzean

Last summer, I told the lovely story of how my family came to Epworth in Michigan.  But there is another side to that story-- a painful side, a side unflattering to myself.

From my youngest years, the Wagner family would all pack into my grandmother’s cottage.  That was a lot of people.  My aunts a...