To wake up each morning is a miracle.
~ Lailah Gifty Akita
Sometimes you seize the day. Sometimes the day seizes you. And you fight fire with fire.
Kemi Badenoch: I was perfectly clear. What I said was not what you heard; what you heard was not what I meant; and what I meant is whatever I now say I meant. I am always right. Put another way: I am never wrong.
There is a time for “a loop, a lap, or simply a repetition”? A “cycle or a circle” or “the retake and remake of the day”…
Coffee May Protect Against Aging, And Caffeine Isn’t The Main Reason.
Hugh Lunn, 🐉 , George Negus (2001AD)
After a three-week hiatus, I headed over to my sister’s house for a visit. She suggested it offhand the day before: “Hey, you should come see the backyard. It isn’t done yet, but we’ve been working on it.” She’s a master at downplaying her accomplishments, but I knew when she mentioned it that it would be worth seeing.
It didn’t disappoint.
Emerging from the disarray of winter, her garden was shining bright. Flowers bloomed in fresh beds of mulch, and vibrant groundcover blanketed the gentle hillside where fall leaves had been cleared. The space was full of life, and it was evident that a massive amount of energy had been poured into its revival.
Maintaining this backyard is a true commitment. It was originally created by the previous owners, who were passionate gardeners with the time and focus of empty-nesters. The view from the back porch captures a lush array of greenery, a stream flowing into a quiet pond, and a little manicured stepstone pathway winding through it all. When they sold the property, they chose my sister’s family over higher bidders, because they loved the idea of children enjoying the home they had built.
They chose their stewards well.
As we walked, my sister excitedly pointed out new plantings, trimmed trees, and improvements to the vegetable garden. She’s discovered that by doing just 30 minutes of work every day, she can keep up with it all. For her, it isn’t a chore—it’s a favorite escape.
This exchange highlights the importance of our relationship to the land, even in a capitalist world.
When people feel a soul-deep attachment to their environment, they care for it well and pass it on thoughtfully. The idea of “maximum gain” begins to mean something far more than bottom line costs. Calculations of money and time are replaced by a sense of sustainability and legacy.
The bounty of nature is valuable, and it’s even more awe-inspiring when it’s shared. While the preservation of such a treasure is a responsibility, it is also a gift.
From church plant sales to “Friends of the Trails” groups, and from backyard caretaking to city park volunteerism, we are part of something beautiful when we connect to one another through nature. As our government challenges the definition of public lands, we are invited to explore that bond more deeply, and to participate more fully with our fellow citizens more fully in protecting what we love.
With love and hope for the future,
Stephanie
Near-Death Experiences and the Christian Hope of Heaven
Christianity Today: Are Near-Death Experiences Evidence for Heaven?, by Andrew Wilson (Pastor, King’s Church London; Author, Remaking the World: How 1776 Created the Post-Christian West (2023)):
Writing about heaven is different from writing about other Christian doctrines. Some books on the new heaven and new earth are so imaginative and speculative that they become untethered from biblical reality. Others are not imaginative enough; they make lots of accurate statements but lack the fusion of poetry, consolation, metaphor, wonder, and joy that characterize the apostles and prophets. Dane Ortlund’s new book, [Finally Home: The Christian Hope of Heaven(2026)], gets the balance just right more than any other modern book I have read on the topic. It is clear, solid, robust, and orthodox, but it is also soaring, evocative, comforting, and beautiful. It will be my go-to book to recommend on heaven from now on. …
[Michael Zigarelli (Messiah University), Evidence for Heaven: Near-Death Experiences and the Mounting Case for the Afterlife (2026)] presents three claims of escalating significance. Each of them is reflected in the title and subtitle.
The simplest and most defensible claim is that near-death experiences (NDEs) are much more common than many of us realize: They are experienced in all sorts of different cultures and are increasingly the subject of serious academic research.
The next claim is a bit stronger, namely that these experiences are so widely attested. Despite the wide range of cultures from which they come, NDEs have so many overlapping features—the departure of the soul from the body, heightened senses, overwhelming love, brilliant light, a journey through a tunnel, gaining special knowledge, a transformed life afterward—that they represent a growing body of evidence for the afterlife, in which the soul continues after the death of the body.
The third claim, as per the title, is that they actually represent evidence for the Christian doctrine of heaven, on the basis that they witness to a place of perfect peace, light, love, and joy after death, and in some cases a being from whom these things emanate.
