Fascinating Friday Feature: More than a Tagline with Ava Pennington

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How often have you ended a prayer with “in Jesus’ name”? We say it so often, it has almost become a tagline. But how did this practice begin? Several verses in the New Testament tell us to pray in Jesus’ name, including: However, this phrase may not mean what most of us think it does! In ancient times before planes, trains, and automobiles, rulers did not have theconvenience of making a phone call or sending a telegram to convey their orders.Instead, the king would send his emissary to a distant location. And the emissary wouldsay, “I come in the name…

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The Fascinating (Condensed) History of Alaska

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By Donna Schlachter In keeping with celebrating my second Switchboard Sisterhood book, Morgana, I thought I’d sharesome history of Alaska this month. While the area was likely settled thousands of years ago by emigrants from Asia and Eastern Europewho perhaps crossed a land passage, few details are available about these early settlers. They eventuallyestablished themselves and spread out over the area, becoming unique in their language and culture.In 1728. Vitus Bering from Denmark traveled into the area and discovered the strait now namedafter him. He returned in 1741 and explored the North American coastline. In 1776, the year the United…

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Girl’s Weekend Inspires Girlfriend Gathering Series

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Several years ago a few of my close friends decided we would meet in Colorado for a girl’s weekend. The Fall leaves lit the mountains with brilliant colors. The four of us met for time to relax, refresh and revive. We laughed together, cried together, prayed together, looked at scripture together and did some fun activities together. It was an amazing weekend and each of us left refreshed. We felt such comradery that weekend. Though each of us have busy schedules, we know we can count on each other to be there to support, encourage, and pray. Soon after that…

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