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Where Yesterday Lives by Karen Kingsbury

Ellen is a successful journalist in a marriage grown stale.  After she receives a call informing her of her father's death, she returns home to Petoskey, Michigan to face her somewhat dysfunctional family.  The death of her beloved father is only one of the challenges Ellen faces while she and her siblings help their mother plan their father's funeral.

Ellen had begged her husband to return to Petoskey with her.  She needed his support but his busy work schedule took precedence so Ellen returned to Petoskey alone.

Ellen's relationship with her sister, Jane, has been strained for years, but Ellen, for the life of her, can't figure out what happened between the two that would cause Jane to behave so terribly towards her.  After an entire week of planning and bickering back and forth, the truth finally surfaces, but will Ellen and Jane find enough common ground to move past their differences and restore their relationship?

While here husband remains in Miami, Ellen reconnects with her old high school boyfriend, Jake Sadler.  Jake has never married.  After spending time with Ellen, it is evident that he still loves her.  With Ellen's marriage already strained, will Ellen completely destroy her marriage by having an affair with Jake?

There are three other siblings in the Barrett family:  Megan, Amy, and Aaron.

Amy, the youngest of the girls, is married and seems to be the least dramatic sister.

Megan, in my opinion, seems to be the most mature of the five children; although her past might have led her down an entirely different road had she not come to her senses.

Aaron is an odd one.  He is the only boy and the youngest of the five Barrett children.  He keeps to himself, hiding behind his sunglasses, unless he becomes frustrated and angry.  At that point, he becomes rather violent.

At the end of the week, each sibling gets a chance to speak at their father's funeral.  This gives them each an opportunity to express thoughts and feelings that they have kept bottled up until now.

Will the sibling rivalry between Ellen and Jane come to an end?  Will the relationship be restored?  What about Aaron?  Will he step out from behind those sunglasses and allow himself to love and be loved?

Family dynamics, marriage problems, secrets that destroy, temptations almost too great to overcome - Where Yesterday Lives has it all.

Overall, I liked the book.  I think it addresses issues common to many families.  Many readers will relate to the troubled marriage, bickering siblings, and the death of the family patriarch.  I think this book will likely cause people to stop and think about their own family struggles and perhaps set them on a course to solving their own issues.

I was fairly recently introduced to Karen Kingsbury books.  I've since read several of them and loved them all.  This one was a little harder for me to get into.  The sibling rivalry seemed a little too drawn out. It seemed more like I was reading a dialogue between bratty teenagers instead of Christian adults who would hopefully handle things with more maturity.  The mother seemed less nurturing than I would have liked.  Aaron's character was violent to the point of destroying property.  In reality, he would need professional help (in my opinion).  In Where Yesterday Lives, this behavior was written off as almost normal.  His siblings simply avoided conflict with him.  Otherwise they knew he would throw or break things.  I felt like his character could have been more developed and his issues addressed rather than them, for the most part, remaining overlooked.  In spite of these few "problem areas," I liked the book overall.

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Millennials – you’ve heard all about their shenanigans.  You’ve likely seen the memes on social media.  We see the posts, watch the videos, like, comment, and share the stories – all of which have convinced us that the next generation has no hope of making any rational decisions, holding down any jobs, or raising a family any of us can be proud of.  I’ll be the first to admit that I’ve been guilty of participating.  I’ve been wrong and here’s why.

Image Credit – Olivia Snow – CCO Pubic Domain Image – via Freely Photos

 Millennials – It’s time to give them the respect they deserve.

Here is the Google definition of “Millennial.”

“Millennials (also known as Generation Y) are the generational demographic cohort following Generation X. There are no precise dates for when this cohort starts or ends; demographers and researchers typically use the early 1980s as starting birth years and the mid-1990s to early 2000s as ending birth years.“

According to the definition above, I’ve raised three millennials.  None of them fit the profile we’ve been so eager to attach to their generation.  My son, age 24, wears a bullet proof vest to work.  He is a sheriff’s deputy in our county.  When he could be spending his weekends doing other things, he has chosen to spend one weekend per month serving his country in the Army National Guard (and longer drills and deployments).  He wears two uniforms of honor and he’s in those uniforms more often than not.  At age 21, he married and bought his own house.  You know what?  Not once has he ever asked us to help support them financially.  He’s a man who takes care of himself and his wife.  My daughter-in-law is an amazing young woman who loves my son.  She holds down two jobs.  She works at a kennel where she is passionate about taking care of animals.  She also works in youth ministry at her church.  I have two daughters.  The first one is 22.  She works full time.  She goes to school full time .  She honorably holds a leadership position in her sorority (a big shout out to Alpha Gamma Delta).  She rarely misses church.  She works her tail off and she does it with more grace and success than I ever could have.  She will graduate this summer with a degree in Psychology.  My youngest daughter is 19.  She holds down a good job while going to school full time.  She’s active in Baptist Collegiate Ministries.  She has already been on one mission trip and she is now preparing for another.  She never misses church and she’s passionate about sharing the gospel around the world.  She is also working on her degree in Psychology.  All of my children behave responsibly, pay their own way, and take care of themselves.  Most importantly, they all love Jesus and they have honored their father and their mother as the scriptures teach them to do.  I am honored to be THEIR mother.

Honor your father and your mother which is the first commandment with a promise. – Ephesians 6:2

Honor your father and your mother, that your days may be prolonged in the land which the Lord your God gives you. – Exodus 20:12

As a long time teacher and child care provider, I now have millennials bringing their children to me.  Every day, I witness millennials entering marriages and parenthood with honor.  These young mothers and fathers are caring for their households and doing it well.

This past weekend, I had the honor of serving an entire company of National Guardsmen who had returned from 4 days of training.  I watched them unload battle gear, clean weapons, execute commands, follow orders, and express gratitude with the polite manners their parents had poured into them while they were growing up.  I looked around the room and noted their ages.  Many of them, if not most, are millennials preparing to march on foreign soils, witness atrocities, and face dangers that would make most of us shudder with fear.

Have you looked around lately?  Recently, I recognized the young girl at the pharmacy who is trusted to handle medications as a student I once taught, a millennial.

Before my trip to the pharmacy, I visited an Urgent Care Center.  The nurses who cared for me were millennials.  They treated me with a competence and respect that far exceeded some past experiences with older non-millennials.

The soldier going to war, the pilots flying our planes, the doctors and nurses caring for us and our families, the police officers and firemen (and others) who put their lives on the line every day, the young representatives and senators who represent my values, young pastors, youth leaders like my daughter-in-law, missionaries around the world, the veterinarians who care for our pets, the factory workers, farmers, teachers of our children, and so many other important and vital positions that we depend on every day – millennials are beginning to fill all these roles and they are doing it well.

That National Guard company I mentioned?  There is a group of ladies who make up a group called the Family Readiness Group.  I’ve been part of that group for several years.  A while back, our FRG Chair unexpectedly passed away.  Soon after that, several others moved away.  I was the only one left.  Although I never left my position, I declined to take the chair position because I didn’t have enough confidence in my abilities to rebuild what we had lost.  As a result, our Soldiers were without our support for way too long.  A few months ago, we met again and made an effort to rebuild an FRG that our Soldiers can depend on.  A millennial stepped up to the plate and she’s rockin’ it.  I moved to the position as Treasurer which requires a Co-Treasurer.  My Co-Treasurer is a millennial and I have complete confidence in her ability to do the job.  It is an honor to serve with these lady millennials.

All of the millennials above make me proud.

Here’s another thought.  Are we doing our own generation justice when we choose to focus on the handful who participate in the Tide Pod Challenge?  After all, we raised them.

Not all millennials eat laundry detergent, wear pajama pants to job interviews, lay on their parents couches all day, show disrespect to every older adult they meet, and who knows what else.

I know that my four adult children don’t appreciate being grouped into one big category we’ve come to know as a dysfunctional millennial generation.  I’m seeing the same frustration from others who grace the world around me.

They deserve better.  They deserve our respect.  They’ve already earned it.

Instead of allowing the reputation of a few to determine the worth of the whole, I’m going to turn my attention to the hundreds and thousands of young adults who are doing it right.  I owe it to them.  If we rally them on as we pass the torch to them, maybe the “slackers” will realize their true potential and step up with the rest.  Giving them the encouragement and support they deserve will challenge them to rise up and make this world a place where we non-millennials can grow old with grace, knowing that those who will be here to raise the next generations long after we are gone have got it.

To my millennial friends who are rockin’ adulthood, I salute you.  You’ve got this!  Keep up the good fight!

The best advice I can give you to encourage you along the way is found in scripture.

Let no one look down on your youthfulness, but rather in speech, conduct, love, faith and purity, show yourself an example of those who believe. – 1 Timothy 4:12

 Resources for Encouraging Millennials to Keep the Faith

The NRA and Religious Liberty: An Attack on the Second Amendment is One Step Closer to an Attack on Religious Liberty

Image Credits:  wynpnt – CCO Public Domain Image – via Pixabay and dirtdiver38 – CCO Public Domain Image – via Pixabay

 The NRA and Religious Liberty

On Wednesday, February 14, 2018, a 19 year old gunman opened fire and killed 17 people at a school in Parkland, Florida.  Within days, a host of companies and agencies began either pulling support for the National Rifle Association or ending their discounts for NRA members.  In response to the backlash against the company, the NRA stated that the decisions of said companies are “an effort to punish our members who are doctors, farmers, law enforcement officers, fire fighters, nurses, shop owners and school teachers that live in every American community.  We are men and women who represent every American ethnic group, every one of the world’s religions and every form of political commitment.”

First of all, let’s understand what the National Rifle Association is.  The NRA was founded in 1871 by two Union Generals who had been less than satisfied with the marksmanship skills of their troops.  The organization’s primary goal was to train rifle shooters to shoot to a scientific accuracy.  In 1903, NRA secretary Albert S. Jones encouraged all major colleges, universities, and military academies to establish rifle clubs for their students.  Today, more than one million of America’s youth participate in “NRA shooting sports events and affiliated programs with groups such as 4-H, the Boy Scouts of America, the American Legion, Royal Rangers, National High School Rodeo Association and others.” (NRA.org)

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During WWII, the NRA offered its ranges and developed training materials for government use. In 1960, the NRA introduced the NRA Police Firearms Instructor Certification Program.  Today, the NRA is a leader in civilian training.  The organization offers courses which teach accurate shooting of various types of firearms.  Anyone who accesses the NRA website can research gun laws pertaining to his or her state of residence.  A wealth of information is available to both members and non-members of the NRA.  The NRA continues to focus on teaching firearm safety and defending second amendment rights.

Some say the NRA shouldn’t lobby in Washington or that they spend too much money doing so.  The involvement of the NRA in politics is no different from any of the other companies who also lobby for any political interest that supports their cause.  The second amendment gives US citizens the right to keep and bear arms.  The NRA believes in protecting this constitutional right and they have every right to do what they need to do to protect it.

In case you’ve never read it, the second amendment states that United States citizens have the right to “A well regulated militia, being necessary to the security of a free state, the right of the people to keep and bear arms, shall not be infringed.”

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By now, you might be asking, “What does the second amendment have to do with religious liberty?”  Well, first of all we need to realize that the second amendment is not just an amendment saying that US citizens can keep and bear arms.  It also tells us the reason for an armed nation which is the security of a free state.  Our founding fathers knew all too well how easy it is for a government to suppress its people.  They wanted to give the citizens of the new nation a way to not only defend themselves against criminals but also against a tyrannical government.


I am in no way suggesting that our government is currently in a state of tyranny.  I believe that in spite of our faults, we live in the greatest nation on earth.  The problem is how quickly this can change.

The government officials who want to enforce strict gun laws or abolish the second amendment entirely tell us that this is in the best interest of our nation’s children.  I have raised three of my own children and I’ve taught and cared for hundreds of others.  Of course I want the very best for our nation’s youth, but the worst thing we can do for them is take away their right to arm themselves as adults.   Adolph Hitler once said, “The state must declare the child to be the most precious treasure of the people. As long as the government is perceived as working for the benefit of the children, the people will happily endure almost any curtailment of liberty and almost any deprivation.”

Of course the child is our most precious treasure.  That statement is not what bothers me.  What bothers me is the next sentence.  He was saying that if a government can falsely convince its people that they are working to benefit the child, they (we) will give up any liberty and suffer any form of suppression to support it.

An unarmed nation is in danger of suppression.  One of the first things taken from an oppressed people is their method of defense (firearms).  One of the next things taken from them is their religious liberty.

Adolph Hitler’s second policy under The Third Reich was to eliminate the Jewish population from Germany and then from the entire world during WWII.  It is estimated that at least 6 million Jews including men, women, and children died during Hitler’s reign over Germany.

An attack on the second amendment is one step closer to an attack on religious liberty.  First will go our guns (our weapons of defense) and then will go our freedom to worship as we please.

A few nights ago, radio personality Mike Gallagher said (paraphrasing), “People don’t want to admit that there is evil in the world.  We need to recognize that it does exist and when evil happens, we can either stare it down, run from it, or stand up to it.” (Mike Gallagher, Radio Personality)

In order to protect our second amendment rights and our religious liberty, we must stand up against evil.  One way to do that is to support the National Rifle Association.  They work hard to protect our constitutional right to keep and bear arms.  Supporting them is one small way we can work toward protecting our constitutional rights, including religious liberty.