When my soul is required of me, I want to be rich towards God.
Wisdom, the Hard Way
Choices, 2022
My guest blogger kicking off the new year is my youngest daughter, Lauren Drapal. She’s our brain injury survivor. She’s also a successful hairdresser in Kansas City - check out her Instagram @hairlikeaqueen. But first and foremost, she loves Jesus. And she’s a pretty good writer, too. She doesn’t have a blog, but posted this…
God’s Daily Reboot
When a computer malfunctions, how often is the answer as simple as turning the computer off, and then turning it back on? In my experience, usually the computer starts right back up again, working just fine. Whatever went wrong before disappears. Our lives have a God-designed reboot button as well. It’s called night. As I…
On a November Saturday
This post records my memories from the time that God auditioned my wife and I to be parents of a disabled child - at least in hindsight, that's what it looks like. He knew all along what would happen, and how we would respond.
May I Have This Dance
Has the weight of just a thought ever taken your breath away? Happened to me just this morning. Maybe it's the fact that my daughter's wedding is now less than two months away, and she was in town this past weekend for her first bridal shower. Maybe it's this fact that this afternoon, my wife…
Courage
What does real courage look like to you? To me, right now, it looks like a sister-in-law who is going through cancer treatment for a second time in 10 years. It's knowing the suffering she's sure to face during the treatments, and choosing to go through them anyway, because the desired result is the best…
Real Power
"We're moving your daughter back to the ICU." What?!? Why? The call on my cell phone shattered our somewhat peaceful dinner at the Med Center's cafeteria with dear friends. We ran back to her hospital room as quickly as we could. We had watched her get sicker all day long, with no idea why. Extreme…
Centerpieces
What do you see in this picture? I'll tell you what I see. Centerpieces. Twenty-three of them, to be exact. To be sure, they're not ready yet to go on the tables at my daughter's wedding reception next March. But it's not something that 25 minutes and a chainsaw can't fix. If there's one thing…
Winning the Prize
Running a race. The phrase paints a lot of mental pictures, doesn't it? Men and women, all dressed in bright colors, running on the same track, in the same direction, at the same time. Someone wins, the rest lose. Then there are the marathon runners. Twenty-six-point-two miles of just you and the course. Running alone.…
Close Calls
Ordinarily, we want our children to obey authority, right? Well, there was one time when it almost didn't work out so well.... During a family trip to Washington DC one Spring Break many moons ago, we came to a stop on the Metro near the Smithsonian Museums, and our entire 8-person group started the processional of…
Mike G. Smith 