I can remember a sunny morning when I was five or six years old.  I was standing in the driveway in front of my parents’ home.  That morning, the pastor of our church had talked about the power of God in our lives.  Being a smarty pants kid, I remember closing my eyes and praying, “God, if you are so powerful, turn this house into a castle!”  In my mind, I envisioned a Disney-style castle, complete with pink and purple banners flying from its turrets.  When I opened my eyes, our house was still there, looking the same as it had before I closed my eyes.

I can laugh about that now, but I remember being sorely disappointed at the time.  It wasn’t until many years later when my employer sent me on trips to Santo Domingo, in the Dominican Republic, and to Kigali, the capital city of Rwanda, that I really began to appreciate the homes I lived in, including the one I share with my family today.  In Kigali, outside of the rapidly redeveloping city center, families lived in simple one-room concrete houses with tin roofs and dirt floors.  Most people were walking, and often for long distances of several miles in shoes that my pampered American feet would not consider to be at all comfortable.  And I thought back to my six year old self and thought, “God knew that I was already living in a castle!”

I had not attended church for many years, for many reasons.  But I never lost my faith in God.  I went through many dark times in those years, and I believe that while I often felt I was struggling alone, that God never left my side.  I will never forget that during one of those times, I happened to attend church and I can still remember Pastor Bob saying, “it is when the night skies are darkest that the stars shine most brightly.”

It is my hope and prayer that this blog will provide messages of faith, hope and love to those who need inspiration, uplifting and nurturing through their struggles.