To Answer The Call

“Consider it a great joy, believers, whenever you face trials of many kinds, because you know that the testing of your faith produces perseverance. Let perseverance finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything.” James 1:2-4 Dear Prayer Partners, As I write this, all my spring semester work is turned in, I am waiting for grades, sighing with relief. It has been a long nine months since orientation started at the Lutheran School of Theology at Chicago. The old-fashioned term for a second-year student is “middler,” not a beginner anymore, but not finished. Aren’t we all middlers? Who knew? Who knew every student, every professor would be attending classes via Zoom from their homes all year? Who knew then that the pandemic that was declared in March (but had probably started back in December) still would be with us today? Mike and I are stunned that no one from our rather large families ended up in the hospital – only a few family members even cont...

  God had told Abram, “Leave your own country behind you, and your own people, and go to the land I will guide you to." (Genesis 12:1, TLB) Dear family and friends, Conversations in a pandemic: Bed and dressers. Check. Desk? Well, of course I will need a desk. Two desks? Hmm. Entertainment center? No. Definitely not taking that behemoth that holds VHS tapes and a square TV! We should have given it away years ago. The sewing table? How could we leave it? Leslie gave it to us. It makes a great printer table. One or two vehicles? Let’s let that decision ride a little while. And so, the difficult conversations begin. After living in Arizona for 34 years, in this Prescott Valley home for nearly 23, planning a move back to the Midwest is not something we can do in 19 days – the ACTUAL time it took in 1986 to accept a job offer, pack up our apartment and drive across the country to start a new life.   We had been married a year – we hadn’t accumulated much. No kids or pets,...