Author Archives: Sheila Scherlin

The word compromise brings memories of the difficult decisions my husband and I had to make, early in our marriage. Jack (not real name) had two grown children and I had two young teens and a second grader. Jack’s version of discipline was much different than mine and led to arguments. He was much moreContinue reading “Compromise”

I had just finished an assignment in my dorm. Girl after girl were being paged to the office, on Valentine’s Day, to come down for beautiful bouquets of flowers from their boyfriends. How I envied them! My boyfriend and I had parted months before but hearing the names paged over the intercom felt like daggersContinue reading “Valentine Bouquets”

“The Way you think determines the way you feel, and the way you feel determines the way you act.” Rick Warren Recently, when talking to someone on the phone about my age, she said, “emotionally you don’t seem your age.” I was surprised and slightly offended. I should have asked her to clarify her statementContinue reading “A Different Perspective”

This Sunday, April 5th, marks the beginning of, what Christians call, Holy Week. It is the week that we remember the events that led up to Christ’s crucifixion. Today, as I read The beginning of Matthew 21, verses 1-11, I was struck by how Jesus rode two donkeys, a female and her colt. Jesus hadContinue reading “Riding on Two Donkeys”

Formerly, when you did not know God, you were slaves to those who by nature are not gods. Galatians 4:8 As an only child, growing up with few friends and an often absent father, I spent much of my free time playing with my dolls. My dolls were my comfort and my companions. I didContinue reading “When Love Hurts”

We had been shooting Winter Range for two days. Not that we had practiced that much, but the hopes that we would shoot fairly well vanished soon after the first day. Winter Range is the National Championship of Single Action Cowboy Shooting, in Phoenix, Arizona. It is held, annually, at Ben Avery Range and isContinue reading “Match DQ”

Arizona is not known for it’s rain, but this year we have had more than most, making for a plethora of weeds. Looking out the glass slider of our dining room, I could see thistles and tuffs of grass growing all over the yard and even through our patio clay tiles. Armed with a weedContinue reading “Tares of the Heart”

Hi. My name is Curo Chan, which means “little black face”. I am a genuine Siamese cat and live at Washington Heights Air Force Base in Tokyo, Japan. I live with Daniel San, the dad, Vivian San, the mom, and Sheila Chan, the kid. I have tried to see the whole base, but the familyContinue reading “Curo Chan”

I knew him, as a child. My mother taught me to pray to him, speak to him, and she made him real through the nativity, at Christmas. We lived in Damascus, Syria, for a few years and on our way back to the US, we traveled through the Holy Land. I was still young andContinue reading “My Jesus”

When I was a child, my catechism teacher suggested that we “pray” a gift for Jesus. She had made a diagram of x’s to look like a manger. Each x represented a prayer that made up the manger bed for the Christ child. I was very inspired by this and was determined to do thisContinue reading “The Gift”