As I’ve aged, I’ve come to love the doctrine of Providence. It applies to all aspects of living--joy, sorrow, life, and death. Because of the sure conviction that God is connecting my story to His story, that He is creating a grand narrative in my life that brings glory to Himself, I can rest that my grief at the loss of Kathy, at the relatively young age of 70, was God’s story for her...God’s story for us...God’s story that our best friend-ness had run its earthly course and

It’s Thursday. The best day for a conversation. Thursday sits there in the week like a woman who no longer needs to audition for belonging. She’s learned the rhythm of her days and the long cadence of her nights. She weeps, she laughs, often in the same hour, unsteady, but still in step. And she knows she doesn’t dance alone; when she reaches out her hand, her people are there. Which brings me to friendship—real friendship—the kind that doesn’t merely attend the party but sta