Table of contents for July 2018 in Guideposts

With summer heat bearing down on us like a blazing comet, I thought you might enjoy a blast of Rocky Mountain high on the cover. This month we are proud to feature Kirstie Ennis, a battle-tested Marine gunner gravely wounded in Afghanistan, who faced her greatest battle after she returned home to civilian life. Here’s a clue to Kirstie’s grit: She climbed a Colorado mountain for our photo shoot. One of Guideposts’ most important and enduring partnerships is with U.S. military chaplains. Each year, they help us distribute more than a million magazines, booklets, devotionals and greeting cards free of charge to every branch of service, all across the globe. Through your generosity, we’ve also been able to serve more than 150,000 military families every year with a subscription to…

CHAIR OF HONOR I was a Marine in the Vietnam War and stay connected to the military community through several veteran service organizations, including Rolling Thunder, which raises awareness of prisoners of war and those missing in action. At the 2012 national conference, Joe D’Entremont, a Massachusetts chapter president, told us about something great he’d seen at a NASCAR racetrack. “There was a seat left purposely empty,” Joe said. Next to it was a sign that said, This empty chair is reserved for our 82,000 American servicemen who are still missing. This chair will serve as a reminder of all the sacrifices made for our country by these American servicemen, who have for too long been forgotten by all but their families and friends. Joe wanted all Massachusetts sports arenas…

Pastor Jim Powell Ten years ago, Richwoods Christian Church, where I’m lead pastor, needed a new home. At 450 members and growing, we could welcome even more people with a bigger facility. It was an answered prayer when we learned about a furniture store going out of business on a busy street in the part of the city where we ministered. We began negotiations for the building and made an unexpected discovery. Behind the furniture store was the Islamic Foundation of Peoria, one of our city’s two major mosques. The mosque was easy to overlook, a pair of low-slung white buildings with a parking lot and a soccer field in front. Only a small copper dome over the main building suggested that it was a house of worship. I have…

I’m the founder and owner of an industrial steel processing company in Carnegie, Pennsylvania, called Envirosafe. Our 25 employees sandblast large pieces of fabricated steel, then apply coatings and paint to prepare the steel per strict specifications for construction projects across the United States. Drive over a bridge or walk into a building and it’s possible Envirosafe processed the steel for it. It’s tough, exacting work. Giant forklifts and cranes carry up to 20-ton pieces of steel to sandblasting machines that have to be adjusted precisely for every job. Full-time inspectors on our 80,000-square-foot factory floor ensure that the steel we process is safe to use in construction. Employees must be focused, alert and ready to respond if something goes wrong. Surprising as it may seem, Envirosafe welcomes job applicants…

HOPE ON THE LINE Missed call. I saw the message on my cell phone’s screen, but I didn’t recognize the caller. It was probably a wrong number. Besides, I didn’t have time to pick up messages. I needed to get to the hospital where I volunteered as a chaplain once a week. As usual, I was running late. The screen on my phone flashed again. Same number. I almost hit the callback button but then stopped myself. Whatever this call was about would have to wait. I was finally ready to leave and just putting on my shoes when I noticed the phone flashing a third time. Who dials the wrong number three times? I thought. This time I hit callback, and a woman answered. “Hello,” I said. “You just…

A Wounded Warrior’s Comeback In our exclusive video, Afghanistan war veteran Kirstie Ennis (page 28) tells how she overcame PTSD, traumatic brain injury and the loss of a leg. Learn about her inspiring quest to climb the Seven Summits—the highest peak on each continent. guideposts.org/kennis Fun Films for the Fourth Happy Independence Day! Get the gang together to watch a classic patriotic movie. Find seven favorites your whole family is sure to enjoy at guideposts.org/july4films The Faith and Courage of a Civil Rights Icon Melba Pattillo Beals (page 22) recounts how faith guided her stand against school segregation in 1957, as one of the Little Rock Nine. guideposts.org/mpb What’s Old Is New Remember the drive-in? It’s coming back! There are more than 300 currently in operation. Chances are, there’s one…

“THIS IS EMMETT DIGGS,” MY voice mail greeting said. “Retired minister, active tennis player and happy man.” Not anymore. Not after what I’d had to do that morning. I drove home and didn’t get out of the car right away. I sat there, wanting to pound on the steering wheel. I was so angry. Besides my wife, Patty, I had two loves in my life—boxing and tennis. And I’d been forced to give both up. I’d just told the Big Dogs, the buddies I’d played tennis with for the past 12 years, that it was time for me to quit the game. A bitter loss at age 75. As bitter as quitting boxing at age 20. All my life, I’d been active, athletic, competitive. My dad had been an amateur…

Our family filled Dad’s room at the care home, surrounding his bed. Dad was 92 and in the final stages of Alzheimer’s. We knew it was almost his time, but he seemed determined to hang on. His heels were literally digging into the bed. What would make this easier for him? I took his hand, remembering a peculiar story Mom told me. Over the last few years, as Dad declined, he would ask why his parents and siblings who had already passed on weren’t helping Mom with his care. He mentioned a few of them by name, including his sister, my aunt Arina, who had died of a heart attack more than 19 years earlier. Dad had been the youngest boy out of nine siblings. Six of them had already…

IT LANDED IN MY MAILBOX LIKE A blast from the past. A small manila envelope with a return address from Brooklyn, New York, and a name I didn’t recognize. Inside was a CD, its title, Parallelograms, in loopy script over the image of a young woman with long hair in a miniskirt and boots, walking in a blue-tinted field. I flipped the CD box over. Had I really written and sung all those songs? It seemed impossible. These days I might sing to myself, driving to work as a dental hygienist. My 12-string Martin was buried deep in a closet, the reel-to-reel masters of those long-ago recording sessions gathering dust somewhere. Linda Perhacs, the CD said. That was me all right. Me a million years ago. It was 1970, to…

It’s an employer’s worst nightmare. A trusted employee, addicted to drugs or alcohol. Unexplained absences. Erratic performance. Costly mistakes. It doesn’t have to be that way. Substance abuse is a chronic disease, not a moral failing. Like any disease, it can be treated. That’s as true in the workplace as it is at home. How should an employer respond if they suspect that an employee is abusing drugs or alcohol? There is no one-size-fits-all answer to that question, but some guidelines are true for almost all workplaces. The first priority for an employer is to confront the problem as soon as possible. In fact, even before there’s a problem, employers should make sure they are aware of the latest research on addiction and treatment (for example, the 2016 Surgeon General’s…

“Thank you, God, for your loving care and for your sweet blessings everywhere.”PEGGY FREZON, Rensselaer, New York Raspberry Delight Beat the heat with this fruity treat 1 frozen banana¾ cup frozen raspberries1 tablespoon almond butter or other nut or seed butter1 tablespoon maple syrup or other sweetener2–3 tablespoons unsweetened almond milk or other plant-based milk (optional) Combine the banana, raspberries, almond butter and syrup in a blender. Blend to a smooth and creamy texture, scraping down the sides of the blender a few times if necessary. Add almond milk to achieve desired texture. Scoop mixture into a bowl, serve and enjoy! Makes 1 serving. From N’ice Cream: 80+ Recipes for Healthy Homemade Vegan Ice Creams, by Virpi Mikkonen and Tuulia Talvio (Avery).…

LENTEN JOY I want to thank Laura Garrett for sharing her idea of intentional appreciation during Lent in her Someone Cares story, 40 Blessings (February 2018). I decided to try it for myself this year. Like Laura, I sent notes to the people who make my life better. I wrote notes to our local police department, the neighbor who rototills our garden every year, the manager of our grocery store, friends, members of our church, our postmaster and family members. It wasn’t hard to tell each of them what I appreciated about them. The results, I found, were surprising and twofold. First, I got hugs, thanks and even some tears from people who told me that no one ever took the time to appreciate them! Their gratitude warmed my heart.…

“We have a choice every day of what we can put into the world. Please choose love every single day.” HARRY STYLES, singer “Putting others first with a cheerful heart isn’t easy, but because of that, even the smallest acts can leave an incalculable impact.”JUSTIN McELROY, host of the advice podcast My Brother, My Brother and Me “I’ve come to believe that if we start each day from a place of gratitude, then it’s bound to go a bit better than it would if we didn’t.” broadcast journalist MARIA SHRIVER, from her book I’ve Been Thinking: Reflections, Prayers and Meditations for a Meaningful Life “If God is love, the only way we can worship God is by loving others.”JOHN SHELBY SPONG, from his book Unbelievable “Don’t speak unless you can improve…

It’s natural to feel loss and sadness with a diagnosis or progression of Parkinson’s disease (PD). But as Emmett Diggs discovered through Rock Steady Boxing, you can live well with PD. We talked to therapists and patients at Good Samaritan Society in Mountain Home, Arkansas, about other programs that have shown promising outcomes for people who have PD. Drums Alive, a group fitness class that combines full-body movements with drumming, has sparked great results for people with PD. “One gentleman, 15 minutes into class, found his tremors would stop,” says wellness director Bethany Clark. There’s mounting evidence that exercise, particularly if it involves cognitive engagement, promotes neuroplasticity, the ability of the brain to compensate for cells damaged or lost to PD. Drumming to changing musical and rhythmic cues stimulates both…

Glenwood Springs, Colorado I celebrate it like it’s my birthday, and in a way it is. Facebook has it down; my family will never forget; my friends call. June 23, the day my helicopter in Afghanistan crashed, is my Alive Day. Because I’m alive, savoring every moment, stoked about all that I can do—snowboarding, climbing the world’s tallest peaks—looking forward to what’s still ahead. But it is also the day on the calendar my life nearly ended. Twice. June 23, 2012. Four years into my service in the Marines, on my second tour of duty in Afghanistan, I was a door gunner on our Sikorsky CH-53D helicopter in Helmand province. We were resupplying ammunition and transporting soldiers when the helicopter went nose up and fell from the sky. Tethered to…

I SAT IN THE ROCKER IN OUR BEDROOM staring at the blood pressure monitor, dreading what the numbers would say. I could hear my mom cooing in the other room, cradling my newborn son, Ayden. It should have been the happiest time of our lives. A baby boy in perfect health. My husband, Paul, and I were blessed, richly blessed. But I couldn’t see it that way. I was so afraid I wouldn’t live long enough to see Ayden’s first birthday. Any day now, I could die, I thought. I couldn’t turn off the negative tape playing in my thoughts. My head throbbed; my heart raced. Here I was home, finally home, and I felt as if I were millions of miles away, trapped in fear. “I want my wife…

Scene 1| I dragged a brush down the wall, smoothing out creases in the floral wallpaper. My fiancé, Richard,* was on the other side of the kitchen, measuring paper for another wall. Two weeks, I thought. Just two weeks until I get to marry him and we start our lives together here. Richard held up the sheet of paper he’d cut. It was too short for the wall. “Are you kidding me?” he said. I smiled and shrugged. It was just a silly mistake. Richard hurled a brush at the wall and cursed. “Rich?” I asked tentatively. I’d never seen him angry before. He screamed profanities. His face turned crimson. I touched his arm. He jerked away from me and kept yelling. Finally he stopped. So he’d lost his temper.…

Two military veterans, one 20,310-foot-high peak. In June, Marine veteran Kirstie Ennis (A Different Kind of Warrior, page 28) took on Alaska’s Denali with Air Force veteran Katelyn Sheehan to raise money for Building Homes for Heroes, which modifies or builds homes for disabled veterans. Kirstie says the two of them make a good climbing team. Katelyn is a proven expedition leader, but even she needs a hand sometimes. “On a training climb in Ecuador, Katelyn was hesitant to cross a traverse,” Kirstie says. “I don’t have that fear of getting hurt.” But Kirstie does have a drive to serve others, and she recently established the Kirstie Ennis Foundation (kirstieennisfoundation.org) to support nonprofits that help veterans. She’s recently taken up mixed martial arts to build her cardiovascular strength and improve…