LA SIERRA BLOG

Blogging Through the Seasons

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Day 9 – Who Are You Really Angry At?

40 Days 2025

Day 9 – Who Are You Really Angry At?

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....
Day 8 – Late

40 Days 2025

Day 8 – Late

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...
Day 7 – The Funeral

40 Days 2025

Day 7 – The Funeral

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...
Day 6 – Good, Good Father

40 Days 2025

Day 6 – Good, Good Father

I was not born a Pendleton. This is a name I legally took when I turned 18 to honor my step-dad, Richard Pendleton. He raised me, he taught me, and he loved me – and so I consider him my dad. My mother had previously been married. That man gave her three sons. I...
Day 5 – Rainbows

40 Days 2025

Day 5 – Rainbows

What’s a child’s number one dream? A puppy. For me, that dream came true on my fifth birthday. I still remember the moment when my grandpa walked in, a huge gift bag in hand, and inside was a tiny, adorable puppy of my very own. I named him Fluffy. For weeks, he was...
Day 4 – Africa

40 Days 2025

Day 4 – Africa

When we were in college, Sylvia and I committed our lives to being missionaries in Africa. We started our work in 1967. Twelve years later, at the end of 1978, things fell apart. We were not making it financially. The world was in a double-digit inflation spiral, and...