Seeking Excellence & Adhering to Christian Values
FacebookTwitterLinkedIn

Grief: A Journey

“A journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step.” Lao Tzu   Have you ever gone on a journey—a hard journey—not knowing or understanding how to navigate or find your way, hoping for or needing someone to travel with you? Maybe someone you love and trust to help you when the road gets rough, and someone who may need your help, too? Recently, I read a true story about a youth leader who sacrificed his first few days of marriage to accompany a high school student on a journey to Yosemite National Park. The student planned to drop out of school to become a rock climber, and because he had intended to travel alone, he was surprised that his friend wanted to go with him. The student knew nothing of the youth leader's marriage; but because the youth leader saw that his young friend had made up his mind and could benefit by having someone with a bit more life experience go with him, he chose to go on this journey—knowing that most likely his friend would realize on his own that this idea probably wasn’t the best. Within a couple of days on the trail, he did just that, and the younger man decided on his own that he wasn’t cut out for rock climbing and that perhaps quitting school wasn’t the best idea. Life Journeys Like the story above, where the two friends took an actual journey—and the younger man had his own journey learning some [...]

By |2018-08-08T21:22:00+00:00July 12th, 2018|Published Books|Comments Off on Grief: A Journey
Read More

Roller Coaster of Grief

When I was younger, I loved riding roller coasters at the State Fair; I’d go every year with just enough money to buy lunch and ride the roller coaster a couple of times. But it wasn’t that way the very first time I rode one—my friends had to coax me on, and once it was over, they had to help me off! Grief is often like a roller coaster ride.     Ups, Downs and Everything in Between Life events are often a lot like that first roller coaster ride, especially when a loved one dies. Like that first coaster ride, with its ups, downs, twists, turns, smooth and rough spots—and not knowing what comes next—emotions and grief are unpredictable, and the feelings that come and go and change, can be confusing and scary. Recently, I heard a news story about a roller coaster that stopped in mid-air. The riders hung upside down for three hours before the mechanics could repair the machinery and get them down. Can you imagine? Thankfully, no one was injured—but I bet it got them to thinking twice about riding that coaster again for a long while! Unfortunately, when someone we love dies, we don’t have the choice to refuse the roller coaster ride of emotions. And “the death of someone we love is definitely not … a journey we would choose to go on.” In Someone I Love Has Died: Get Me OFF This Emotional Roller Coaster Called Grief, author Karen Lindwall-Bourg walks us through [...]

By |2018-08-08T21:23:23+00:00June 8th, 2018|Published Books|Comments Off on Roller Coaster of Grief
Read More

Wellness: Renewal of the Whole Person

 Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind …    —Romans 12:2a (ESV, emphasis added) Transform : make a thorough or dramatic change in the form, appearance, or character of. Renewal : the replacing or repair of something that is worn out, run-down, or broken. We all need to make changes from time to time, and often those changes need to be thorough and dramatic, going from unhealthy to healthy, from broken to renewed. To wellness. Parts—or thoughts—may need to be replaced, transformed, and revived. So how do we make those life changes? How do we get to wellness? Beliefs Wellness: The Awareness of the Whole Individual focuses on the acronym BELIEFS. Each chapter highlights one area of BELIEFS and ends with an assessment for help in determining areas in life that may need attention. True wellness should be cultivated in key areas of our lives: Body Emotions Livelihood Intellect Environment Family & Friends Spiritual The necessity of health and wellness is before us constantly—on social media, on billboards, in magazines we see in the grocery check-out line, on television. Our culture is obsessed with the latest health food, living a stress free life, the easiest and guaranteed-to-work diet plan. And yet, wellness is about so much more than only the physical. Each of these areas is important in providing peace and rest for our souls.   For as he thinks within himself, so he is. —Proverbs 23:7 (NASB) A friend of mine, [...]

By |2018-05-08T13:37:50+00:00May 7th, 2018|Published Books|Comments Off on Wellness: Renewal of the Whole Person
Read More

Grief: There is no “Right Way” to Grieve

Grief : deep sadness caused especially by someone's death. : a cause of deep sadness. (Miriam Webster) ... the conflicting feelings caused by the end of or change in a familiar pattern of behavior. When someone important to us dies, it represents an end to what has been familiar for us, and we must adapt to that new—usually unwanted—reality. I would add to “usually unwanted reality” surprised and possibly shocking reality. When I was 17 and my brother was 14, our dad died suddenly. He had just started work for a new company, we were starting our Christmas decorations for that year, and life seemed to be rolling along for our family. Then everything changed, suddenly and shockingly. My First Grief Experiences As a 17 year-old, the only death I’d experienced—the first true grief—was that of my grandfather the year before. He lived across the state from us, and when he died, our family went. At least, most of the family; I stayed behind. I didn’t want to remember Granddaddy any other way than how I last saw him—so my parents let me stay home. Maybe they figured I’d need to work out my grief in my own way. So when my dad died almost a year to the day later, I began to experience grief in a whole new light. I watched my strong, independent, “drill sergeant” mom fall apart; over the next days and weeks, she didn’t sleep, she had phantom illnesses, she stared into space for hours. [...]

By |2018-04-19T21:53:19+00:00April 9th, 2018|Published Books|Comments Off on Grief: There is no “Right Way” to Grieve
Read More
Go to Top