Dave Larsen

Pine cars, like Little League trophies, find their way from shelves and fireplace mantels to boxes in the garage, and sometimes reside in the heart. If, as some have said, character is who we are in the dark, the shadows of Sam’s bedroom revealed the genuineness of one boy’s heart, and the workings of the Lord in a different kind of race. 

Jake first noticed her the day after she moved in to the home. She bore a remarkable resemblance to his first and only wife—the white hair, the infectious smile, the pleasant round face and other round parts--so much so that it almost frightened him. He became a widower about six months before Julia entered his now smaller world, quietly yet abruptly, and his life would not be the same.

It’s been a quiet week in Oak Forest, my hometown, although there’s been a lot of hoopla over at my local church, the Hopeful Reformed Christian Church.