Jean Purcell

Labels I have learned to Love or Live with

"Shrimp" "Late baby" "Only a house-wife/stay at-home mom" "Slow-witted Southerner" "Prejudiced" "Foreigner" "Trouble-maker" "Shrimp" is a nickname from a guy in junior high school because I was petite (in those days). I learned to love this label as I reached middle age diet plan time. In fact, I longed for it and with a smile thought of Charlie who had first given... (posted by Jean 4 days 5 hours ago.)

Christmas, a Special "Christmas Carol," and Scrooge Connection

Have you seen a TV or DVD version of Charles Dickens' A Christmas Carol this year? If not, I hope you will soon, if you can make the time. Last night while Jim (Dad) and our son-in-law were at a Bruins game, we "girls"--two daughters and I--watched Patrick Stewart as Scrooge and a cast that includes outstanding acting for the characters of Bob Cratchett, his wife, the boy that runs to buy... (posted by Jean 155 days 7 hours ago.)

Commentary: Beware Revolutionary Hopes without More Information

Arab Spring exuberance fades due to what some call "unintended consequences." The word democracy that resounded among protesters has not materialized in Egypt, Syria, and Libya. The countries seem critically and urgently ill as far as democratic leadership is concerned. S ignificantly, politics and religion have been at work, not so much a sign of one religion, Islam, as an extreme and... (posted by Jean 213 days 22 hours ago.)

I have Seen Disappointment, Betrayal, Loss in One-sided Divorce

Someone bluntly asked me why I feel equipped to write about marriage, separation, or divorce. It was a good question, for which my only answer was: I have been through the first two and barely escaped the third. For me, after becoming a person of faith in Jesus Christ during a separation, I found that God's word that "he will make a way of escape" is true... (posted by Jean 326 days 7 hours ago.)

In the News-Art Critics, Religious, and Atheists Hot about Sin

About the time of the Fourth of July this year, an exhibition of Norman Rockwell 's art was in town, in the capital city. Those two events spawned sin being called-out from unexpected camps. Is this a new trend emerging? Art critic Blake Gopnik , for The Washington Post , and a few religious people, as well as atheists, publicly converged over the issue of sin last week. The first sin was... (posted by Jean 1 year 322 days ago.)

Help for the Troubled Soul

"I love the LORD, for he heard my voice; he heard my cry for mercy" (Psalm 116: 1-NIV). The soul in trouble sails a ship of confusion, chaos, and fear. Resentments, tears, accusations, and lack of forgiveness are parts of its suffering. The writer of Psalm 116 knew the pains of the soul in torment. He faced gigantic waves of chaos too hard for anyone to manage alone. He wrote: "The cords of death entangled me" (v 3). He... (posted by Jean 1 year 356 days ago.)