Stephen De La Vega

  COVID-19 hit us like a giant brick. Its presence changed the world. It disrupted our lives. Many of us were hit hard. How can our everyday normal be so overturned by something we can’t even see!? It’s my pleasure to introduce Alynda Long. She is an Energizer bunny …and a writer, blogger, editor, wife, homeschool mother, grandmother, graduate student, and, most importantly, Christ-follower. She endured a month-long battle against COVID-19, and she had never experienced a viral infection like this one. COVID-19 is a beast! But Alynda ‘kept on going’ as well as she could and she maintained a productive faith in God who is greater than this virus and in full control. I was encouraged by her story of victory as she suffered through the invasion of COVID-19 in her body and her household. It’s God’s story of victory, really, through Alynda’s faith, and I want to share it with you. Here is an interview with Alynda about her experience. Hi Alynda. Thank you for agreeing to tak...

Aspen trees are possibly my favorite trees because of their picturesque trunks and delicate leaves. In most of Northern America we call them quaking aspen (or trembling aspen) because the leaves quake or tremble, even at the slightest breeze. Did you know that an aspen grove grows from a single tree? Aspens occasionally start as seedlings, but young aspens more typically grow from underground roots, and, as the roots travel underground, more and more sprouts shoot up. (See clonal colonization .) So, the snow-nestled trees in the pictures in this post are one single organism. You might call them one single tree. The larger tree you see in the foreground is the mother tree. All the other trees in the grove (or clone) sprouted from the roots of the mother tree. So, the entire grove grew and thrived as it remained connected to the root system of a single, life-giving tree. Jesus said… I am the vine; you are the branches. If you remain in me and I in you, you wi...