Blogging Through the Seasons

I am Armenian. In 301 CE, Armenia became the first nation in the world to adopt Christianity as its official state religion. According to tradition, both Thaddeus and Bartholomew, two of Jesus’ twelve disciples, brought the gospel to Armenia and were martyred there....

Ruby Mae remembers standing with a group of relatives in a strange living room while the adults discussed where she should sleep that night. Ruby Mae’s mother had left her toddler in Portland, Oregon, with one of her married brothers, while she headed south to look...

Losing a parent at the tender age of five is truly a challenging experience, and that’s an understatement. At that young age, I only perceived the absence of my father as losing his presence. However, as the years passed, I gradually realized that the loss was...

About two years ago, my friend and I went through a difficult time in life, each facing our own challenges in different ways. It wasn’t a season of sunshine. It was a stormy one—heavy rain pouring and thunder crashing, making it difficult for us to see what lay ahead....

Ruth and I were married on December 5, 1950. By the end of 1964, we had been married for 14 years and moved multiple times, following the call of pastoral ministry. I had served as an evangelist, local church pastor, and a conference administrator. We had also...

The year was young, and she was old—over 100 years old. It already seems like a long time ago, and yet, only a few weeks have passed. But the sharp, rotting odor of incense in hair, nostrils, and memory persists. It evokes the ceremony that celebrated the life of a...