Real Life by Peggi Tustan

Welcome to Real Life . Like it or not, death is a part of real life. Theresa (Salva) Keeler September 8, 1957 - July 7, 2023 Theresa/Terre/Tess [1]  was my sister, my friend from the moment of my birth until her last breath. I don’t know how to live without a sister. I don’t want to learn. Yet, in the midst of my sadness, I am incredibly grateful God blessed me with a sister. In many ways, Terre and I were black and white. We did not look like sisters. We grew up sharing a room, and drove each other crazy with her messiness and my neatness. She was Miss Morning Sunshine. I crawled out of bed and growled. Bone deep, however, we were the same. Our foundation stones were cut from the same quarry. We were the daughters of Slovak immigrants who were fiercely proud of both their US citizenship and their Slovak heritage. Our father arrived on this continent in his thirties with little more than the clothes on his back. Our childhood was simple and carefree. My mother did not drive, s...

Welcome to Real Life . What does strength look like? Those who give much without sacrifice are reckoned as having given little. –Erwin Lutzer “Who has believed our message and to whom has the arm of the Lord been revealed?” Isaiah asks. Because the Word from God he’s about to deliver is not an easy one to believe. In Isaiah’s day, Jerusalem was surrounded by enemies and facing annihilation. God’s people were seeking a political messiah to swoop in and rescue them. Instead, God would send an unlikely hero. Not someone to save them in the moment, but the One who could save their souls for all eternity. Who would God send? Not a Samson, but a man of sorrows, despised and rejected. It was our pain and punishment he bore. But he was pierced for our transgressions, he was crushed for our iniquities; the punishment that brought us peace was on him, and by his wounds we are healed. Seven hundred year after Isaiah's prophecy, the arm of the Lord—his strength in reaching, res...