26 ed

The Most Difficult Simple Message

By Kelly Carr Oftentimes we focus on the things that are not rather than the things that are:  Those are not the words I use. That is not the food I eat.  This is not the music I listen to. Those are not the clothes I wear.  We are tempted to define people by what […]

Portrait of young adult woman with her father laughing

Honoring the Fathers

By Kelly Carr We require a lot out of you, dads: •  We want you to be strong enough to carry our family but tender with our fragile emotions. •  We want you to help provide but have time to be around. •  We want you to know how to fix things when we ask […]

24 editorial

He Makes Beautiful Things

By Kelly Carr I knew I had to go that day or it would be too late—it was peak bloom season for tulips at the Cincinnati Zoo & Botanical Garden. It’s my favorite time of year, but tulip season is quick. Wait too long and they wilt. Perhaps their brief brilliance gives me more appreciation […]

young woman pray pious with sunrise, asian

Trust Fall

By Kelly Carr “I thought she said ‘back flip,’ so I moved out of the way. But she actually said ‘trust fall’ and then fell, but I didn’t catch her!” That was a story from a young girl about church camp. The the child who trusted was OK, so the story made me giggle. Ah, […]

22 ed

Listen, Learn, and Live

By Kelly Carr This week marks Memorial Day—when our nation stops to remember those who gave their lives in military service to our country. Stopping to remember is not a new concept. One of my favorite stories in the Bible is in Nehemiah. After Nehemiah and his team worked for many weeks, simultaneously fighting off […]