Picket Fences

"I have no gloves." The girl standing outside of my car said after I handed her some money. Then she showed me her red, cold hands. I looked around our car to see if we had a spare pair and then checked to see of any of us in the car were wearing gloves. "I don't have any gloves," I said apologetically. She showed me her hands again. "I don't have any gloves." Her face was sad. I noticed her skimpy skirt with leggings underneath; a pink backpack lay on the sidewalk. I asked my daughter to look under the seat to see if we had any hand and foot warmers. "I have hand warmers," she said a little frustrated. "But I have no gloves." "I don't have any gloves." I had shaken my head before we drove away. I felt sad for her. My first response - go to the nearby store and buy her a pair of gloves. Until I saw the parking lot filled with cars waiting in line to park. Last minute shoppers on Christmas Eve. Then ...

The day after Thanksgiving one of my friends posted on Facebook that the Starbucks holiday cup was out. She included a picture of the red cup. It enticed me to know there was steaming hot coffee in it. Typically, I like iced coffee, but leading into the holidays, I love to carry around warm coffee in a red cup. A few days later, though, I started to hear and see some negative things about the holiday Starbucks cup. Ridiculous things. Shortly after I saw a post on another of my friends Facebook wall that hurt my heart. It was a post about "the stupid CHRISTIANS" and their attitude about the Starbucks cup. What!?  STUPID Christians? Attitude? I'm a Christian. Along with the post, the comments about Christians took me by surprise. Obviously, I didn't participate in that conversation. I hadn't paid too much attention to the issue since it seemed non-legit to me, but all of the sudden I was put in a group that was "STUPID" because I am a Ch...