And I quote, “NO!”

Bob and I were incredibly fortunate to spend this past Christmas with our oldest granddaughter and her family at their beautiful new home in Los Angeles.  Let me clarify: our oldest granddaughter is 2-years-old and her family is our oldest child and her husband.  Now, Bob and I have memories of when this precious bundle was born, when she started to walk, and one of my favorite life events is rocking her as she fell asleep in my lap even just this past summer.

That’s when she had just turned two, but even then the storm was beginning to brew.

And this past holiday season, it was the southern California equivalent of a nor’easter.  Of course, being the parents of three children of my own, this comes as no real surprise.  As much as I know her parents love and

In other words…

And whatever you do or say, do it as a representative of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks through him to God the Father.

Colossians 3:17 Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers Inc., Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.

Chess—the game of kings (and queens, and castles, and bishops, and….)

My brother-in-law still teases me about the time I invited him to play a “quick game of chess”.  Right.  Like such a thing exists, unless of course I’m your opponent.  More recently, I had the opportunity to learn a little more about this masterful diversion from my niece’s husband.  Naturally, I still didn’t win, which in my case was not really the point.  And, let’s be real, the man’s an engineer and actually understands the game.

One of the few things I do understand about chess is that sometimes you have to sacrifice certain pieces to gain access to others as part of an overall strategy to conquer the opposition.  (I like that word “conquer” since we’re dealing with kings, queens, knights, and the like, things we Americans are not overly acquainted with except in our video games and whatever else Hollywood feeds us.)

But the concept of sacrificing for a greater good is not altogether foreign, especially