1. If you could change one thing in history, what would it be, and why? In English class, this would be a question to practice conditionals. But this week it was the impromptu question put to me in front of a group of strangers as a way of introducing myself. After a couple seconds, I said that since I live in a country where we feel the repercussions of WWII, I would change Adolf Hitler’s choices. Later, I thought I could have mentioned Eve’s choice to eat that fruit, but I know my potential to do the same thing she did, so the Fall would have come at some point anyhow.

Back to Hitler: this idea  is not original with me, but what would have happened if someone would have loved young Adolph when he was three or four or five? Or mentored him when he was eleven and twelve, wanting to be an artist? Somewhere he made terrifyingly wrong choices, but before that, it seems somewhere he fell through the cracks. Who let him go? Who is sliding into cracks around me now?

2.  I think heaven is going to be something like living on a Bible school campus. These days, I study and teach, read and eat good food, take walks and sing in choir. And best of all, every day friends knock on my door just to visit or see if I want to go on a walk with them, or at supper they refill my bowl with Oreo ice cream. It’s not heaven, because there were plenty of un-pinnable moments where the tissues were close to hand, and the enemy’s accusations rang louder than they should. This is a special time of intense focus on God and what’s most important, and I love it.