Julie entered my class daily, threw down her books, and sulked. Her mother eventually telephoned me, asking why Julie became angry in chorus.

I was at a Christian retreat center with friends on a beautiful spring day. The group broke for an hour to gather ourselves and to pray silently on the riverside campus.

I love funeral services during which pastors customize their eulogies to fit deceased individuals' lives. My pastor husband, Jack, can make heaven sound so wonderful that I almost want to "crawl in and go too."

Three months ago the residents of Macon County, Tenn., were devastated by a series of tornados that leveled homes and killed a dozen citizens.

Finished with dinner, we retired to the den for conversation. When our guests rose to leave, their son threw a pillow intended for the sofa onto a small antique pitcher, breaking our treasured wedding gift from my husband's grandparents.

Recently, our church has been working through a process of long-range planning. Over eight months or so, several members of our congregation have met together with the clergy staff to consider prayerfully how God might be calling our congregation to serve Him more fully. Ultimately, four broad categories emerged and our Long Range Planning Committee engaged the congregation in conversations about those areas of ministry. The midweek roundtable discussions yielded important information about our core values as a community of faith.