By Ron Hutchcraft It was about 11 o'clock at night when I suddenly got a cryptic text from my son - "Please turn off your porch lights." Excuse me? Next weird thing - there are a dozen people in my front yard, all looking up at the sky. I can't really see them. Oh, but I can hear them in the dark. Then I get it. They've come where it's further from any light to see the show in the sky. The northern lights. The aurora borealis. That spectacular display of colored lights, seldom seen in the lower 48. Caused this time by an unusually large storm on the sun ..read more

It's the Super Bowl of the Skies! No ticket required. In a world of people addicted to screens, countless millions of us are stopping everything to see a spectacle in the skies. When a celestial switch is flipped and the lights go out. The solar eclipse of 2024 ..read more

It was like a dream come true. It was right after Christmas. And I was in Manger Square in Bethlehem! Near the entrance to the Church of the Nativity, built over the cave believed to be the birthplace of the Son of God. It felt like the whole town was a celebration. Festive lights lining the streets. Caroling choirs. A parade. And a dazzling Christmas tree on the square. Not this Christmas. The birthplace of Christmas will be dark and deserted this Christmas ..read more

By Brad Hutchcraft There are toys, and then there are trains. Toys are fun, but trains bring out something else. Maybe it's the feeling of nostalgia, or maybe it's the delusional thinking that I could just step on a locomotive and successfully operate it. Either way, one of my favorite moments each Christmas is when we pull out the Lionel O-Gauge and set it up under the tree ..read more

I guess some might call me a news junkie. Not so much anymore. There's just so much junk in the news. Breaking news is so often heartbreaking news. Unspeakable cruelty. Mutual destruction politics. Mass shootings. A ticking time bomb world. And then there's Christmas ..read more

Six weeks post surgery! I can drive... lift my arm... have more mobility... and can hug with two arms! Incredibly thankful I finally had courage and time to face getting the help I needed for my shoulder. I kicked it down the road for years. Makes me think of how we often put off dealing with the hard things in life - mentally, emotionally, healing, dealing with past trauma, walking through grief ..read more

Words fail. Even words like "apocalyptic"... "war zone"... "total devastation." The racing flames in the iconic Lahaina community of Maui simply consumed everything in its path - often leaving only ash where minutes before a building had stood. In a community where people have lived for a thousand years ..read more

By Sara Hutchcraft It's a long, complicated road, isn't it? This thing we call life. Yet we trip along, thinking we know where we're going, with lofty plans and daring dreams. They say hindsight is 20/20 - sometimes it can serve as a guidebook for how to go forward. These are the stones of remembrance that we set along the way as we go - to remind us of what to hold onto when the waves threaten to take us under ..read more

I've never been in a major earthquake. Well, except for this pandemic. Seems like it's shaken just about everyone and everything. One thing earthquakes do - they reveal the buildings that weren't built strong enough to stand the shock. Just like floods reveal the weaknesses in a levee or a dam. Or a flood wall that wasn't built high enough ..read more

By Doug Hutchcraft On the news or social media, you can't miss it: people young and old, regardless of political affiliation or financial situation, in disbelief about an awful tragedy. You won't find any shortage of commentary about it. I can't help but process this through my own experience - listening to people with hearts that have been broken. My desire is to try to respond with God's perspective. My dad Ron puts it powerfully: "Since 9/11 I have prayed during shocking moments in the news: 'Lord, help me see and feel what You see and feel here ..read more