RBC Ministries

This Sunday I will celebrate my first Mother’s Day without a mother. After a year-long illness, my dear mom recently passed on to be with Jesus. Mom was eighty. Not only will I miss mom terribly, I found myself feeling sad over all the things she was never able to enjoy in this vast and [...]

“The last enemy to be destroyed is death.” (1 Cor. 15:26) Those words have been stuck in my head these last two weeks–and the reminders are everywhere. As you read in last week’s beautiful post by my fellow blogger Allison about the unexpected death of her sister Jodi, death still seems to be winning. The [...]

My sister Jodi died unexpectedly yesterday. I’m so incredibly sad, and I still can’t believe it. My heart breaks that she’s gone and that I can’t talk with her. I know she’s with Jesus—she’s happy, fulfilled, and satisfied in the Lord; and that gives me comfort. I love you, Jodi, and I look forward to [...]

A comedian once mused that he wished someone made a GPS for husbands. It went something like this: GPS: “Compliment your wife on her appearance.” Comedian: “Hey honey, you look really good tonight.” GPS: “Ask her about her day.” Comedian: “How was your day, sweetheart?” GPS: “Pretend to be listening.” Comedian: “Oh…yep…really…” GPS: “Compliment your [...]

In Michigan, we had a crazy mild winter. To top it all off, in March we hit all-time record highs in the mid and upper 80s. I for one was thrilled. Bring it on! I love seeing plants sprout back to life from the stark, cold barrenness of winter. I’m already dreaming of savoring the [...]

I don’t know about you, but I’m so fed up with the shenanigans and the mudslinging attacks of the political climate in this major election year that I just turn it all off. I’m sorry, but I’m tired of the lies. Whether it’s shading the truth, telling half-truths, not telling the whole truth, or just [...]

In his book Beautiful Outlaw, John Eldredge points out that it was “God who gave us a sense of humor.” He goes on to ask, “Do you really think Jesus came to take it away?” Of course, the answer is no way! Jesus was hardly dry and humorless. But Eldredge’s question got me to thinking [...]

 I took my little dog for a walk this morning. It’s unseasonably warm where we live, so I thought I really should get out with Lely and enjoy nature a bit.  I love the outdoors—the trees, birds, squirrels, sunrises, sunsets, storms, sunshine, mountains, oceans. I love it all. And sometimes its beauty can bring me [...]

My bride of 35 years recently brought home a sign that she wants to hang in our soon-to-be-remodeled bathroom. [The soon-to-be-remodeled part being . . . as soon as I can get to it. And we all know how that goes. ] Here’s the sign: It makes me laugh. We do a lot of that [...]

Nagging is a marriage killer. So says a study reported in the recent Wall Street Journal article—“Meet the Marriage Killer.” The article defines the nagging problem as the “interaction in which one person repeatedly makes a request, the other person repeatedly ignores it and both become increasingly annoyed.” The article goes on to point out [...]