Author: maryanncrum

    Much of the public discourse this week has focused on the mass shootings that continue to plague our nation and break our hearts. While some politicians and pundits point fingers, the rest of us are just reeling and wondering how we can live normal lives in a world that feels so unsafe.    Somehow,… Continue reading Pushing Back the Darkness

    Since moving to the country and spending a lot of time driving on rural roads, I’ve observed that there seem to be random seasons when more small animals than usual run out in front of cars.    I can go for months without encountering a squirrel, but then suddenly there will be squirrels everywhere… Continue reading Don’t Play Near the Road

    If you live long enough, you’ll probably fall prey to some kind of bait-and-switch scheme. Someone promises you one thing, but then delivers something different and of lesser value.    I sure didn’t have to live very long to experience this kind of exasperating switcheroo. It occurred when I was just nine or 10… Continue reading Jesus is Better Than Advertised

    Here’s some advice from someone who has just about earned her own personal parking place at way too many medical offices: When you go to see a doctor, never begin explaining your problem with, “When I looked up my symptoms on the internet, it said … .”    If you ignore this advice, your… Continue reading How’s Your Heart?

    I’ve recently had some beach time, so all’s right with the world.    Wait, that’s fake news. Everything’s not all right with the world, but it is true that I thoroughly enjoyed soaking up the stress-relieving rhythms of the ocean along Florida’s Gulf Coast last month and it was very therapeutic.    It had been… Continue reading The Best Trip is Yet to Come

    When he asked me to cut his hair, I knew it might be the first sign my husband was falling into a fashion abyss from which he might never emerge. What would be next, black socks with sandals?    It wasn’t like Joe didn’t know about my subpar haircutting skills. He’d witnessed my “handiwork”… Continue reading Be Thankful I’m Not Your Barber

    When I was five years old, my parents bought a nicer house, but I didn’t want to move. In fact, I recall sitting on the curb on moving day, grumbling loudly and tossing little rocks at the moving van. There wasn’t anything spectacular about the house we were leaving, but my universe was… Continue reading Where Is My Treasure?

    In a recent column, I confessed that I might have gotten my first driver’s license before I was supposed to. I’m not sure how I got away with that, but my less-than-fully-formed conscience didn’t consider whether it was legal. My goal was just to get that license in my 16-year-old paws.    As it… Continue reading Getting What I Don’t Deserve

    I both hate and love when God exercises His sovereign right to take me to the spiritual woodshed. I know it’s a sign of His love for me (see Hebrews 12:6), but it still stings.    In the past couple of weeks God has revealed some sin in my heart that needed to be dealt… Continue reading I’ve Been to the Woodshed

    Reading the “Dear Abby” advice column is like rubbernecking when I pass a car wreck. I simultaneously want and don’t want to see it. More often than not, the column makes me feel like civilization is surely coming to an end, but occasionally, it also provides a few chuckles.    Such was the case… Continue reading Human Love Isn’t So Blind