by Scott Olson | December 13, 2018 | Apostle | 0 Comments

As long as I can remember, I’ve wrestled deeply with depression. Every morning for the past 47 years, I’ve woken up feeling as if there was a 500 pound emotional barbell weighing down my soul. As a teen, I didn’t understand how to deal with the magnitude of my inner struggle. And when personal and family struggles began to pile up…

by Hillary Yoder | December 4, 2018 | Shepherd | 0 Comments

Fingertips and ears aching, chin and cheeks burning. It is the winter cold. Trees bare their naked twisted branches, grass shrivels into crisp, brown deadness. This is the deadly winter cold. Animals hide, clouds hover, all of creation falls asleep under the sparkling, white enchantment. Everything looks dead, cold, all hope has been lost for green life. But wait, roots in the ground hold the tiniest spark of life. Seeds lie dormant, awaiting. Trees full of icicles pause, quiet. Nature knows there is always hope…

by Hillary Yoder | August 10, 2018 | Shepherd | 0 Comments

Inside I was grumbling, maybe cursing. I had accumulated huge piles of wood for my projects and they had gotten, shall we say, a little out of hand… Today was the day I had to get it all organized. Clouds were billowing and threatening to dump water, weeds were encompassing my workspace, and a halfway-chopped tree was in my way. I groaned…

by Hillary Yoder | July 17, 2018 | Shepherd | 0 Comments

“Mom, mom, mom, MOM, MOM, MOMMMMMYYYYYYY!!” Startled out of my daydreaming, I suddenly enter back into reality to my three-year-old daughter desperately trying to get my attention for the fifteenth time in just as many minutes. She wanted to ask me a vitally important question about the whereabouts of one of her favorite stuffed animals…

by Hillary Yoder | June 25, 2018 | Shepherd | 0 Comments

Heartbroken and weeping, the Apostle Peter sobbed by himself. Chest convulsing, all he could see burned into his memory were the soft, brown eyes of his dearest friend whom he had just purposefully and vehemently disowned in a moment of gripping fear. (Luke 22:56-62) Peter remembered the first time those eyes had looked at him…

by Scott Olson | June 1, 2018 | Apostle | 0 Comments

I LOVE music, but especially orchestral (i.e. Beethoven, Tchaikovsky, Chopin, etc.) and jazz. I enjoy diving deep into the the chaotic order of rhythms, syncopation, melody, harmony, lyrical expression, instrumental nuance, etc. While studying music at the University of North Texas, one of the highlights…