Happy birthday, Activated!
This introduction page has traditionally served to present the issue’s topics, highlight an article or sometimes to share an anecdote or personal reflection. In keeping w... »
Volume 20.01 | January 2019
Flowers, projects, and dreams for the New Year
I love tending my garden, but I have a problem sometimes with flowers. I love to buy a few each spring and enjoy them through the long summer days, tending them and water... »
Raising the sails
Anything that we want to do well at in life requires effort, including growing in Christlikeness. It takes work to consciously and deliberately develop godly beliefs, hab... »
The big leap
It was snowing when we packed the last items into the container that was waiting at an appointed lot in an industrial area, almost ready to be shipped. This was the last... »
Flow with it
A few years ago, I was involved in a volunteer project that operated a meal center for underprivileged students. For the first two years, I helped with cleaning the kitch... »
Jonah and me
One of the best-known stories in the Bible is also one of the strangest. Nearly everyone, it seems, knows about Jonah and the whale. It’s a Sunday school favorite. But it... »
Beginning again
I’m glad to say there is such a place as The Land of Beginning Again, and you can find it, no matter who you are or what your past has been. You’ll find that place in the... »
Bouncing on the bow of a bangka boat
On a trip to attend my son's wedding in the Philippines, I had the joy of riding on a bangka boat, a Filipino vessel that looks like a catamaran and has a pontoon on both... »
Embracing change
I’ve always been fascinated by the stories of people who just up and change their lives. The successful surgeon who becomes a baker, the beggar who becomes a Wall Street... »
Take that step
I do not force anyone to walk through the doors I lead them to, because I want My children to make their own choices. But the door is there, and if you walk through it, y... »