Author, Tree Street Kids
By Amanda Cleary Eastep This is about the time of year I start writing about spring and gardening and the anticipation of warmer days. And hope. But just because the earth is stretching and ready to start a new day doesn’t mean we are. As much as I’ve been thinking about what to plant in my flower pots, […]
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By Amanda Cleary Eastep “That day Herod and Pilate became friends—before this they had been enemies.” Luke 23:12 Did you ever notice this verse in the crucifixion story? It hit me like a Roman brick this morning. We can pretty easily recall the scene in the Good Friday story where Jesus is brought before Pontius Pilate […]
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By Amanda Cleary Eastep Feeding chemotherapy meds to your three-year-old, knowing it may not make a difference, takes courage. Honestly talking out that painful subject that sticks like a burr up under your heart takes some courage. So does running into a burning building, walking into divorce court, preaching the gospel to cannibals. Fill in the ________. […]
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By Amanda Cleary Eastep The man’s tattooed arms were up to the elbows in bread dough. I could so relate. Not to the guy’s past, to his former gang life in Los Angeles, but to that feeling of fists sinking into soft dough and spirit reposing on a whiff of yeast. He is one of the […]
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By Amanda Cleary Eastep There were sticky notes everywhere. Just to make absolutely sure that the high school and college graduation party for my kids went off without a hitch, my mother had strategically placed important messages throughout the house. “pans for grilled food only” (read: don’t use these pans for E-coli-ridden raw meat holders […]
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By Amanda Cleary Eastep About 50 of us spread out along the shoreline. Silhouettes, and strangers joined only in our intention to witness the big event. The sun is about to set on the Gulf. I had run ahead of my husband as soon as we parked along Gulf Blvd., because I was sure the sun […]
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“Impossible to see the future is.” – Yoda By Amanda Cleary Eastep We don’t know what 2016 will bring, but my year-end blog analytics gave me a chance to see what resonated with you in 2015 here at Living Between the Lines. THANK YOU for reading, liking, sharing, and commenting! If any of the Top 5 […]
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By Amanda Cleary Eastep Bob Cratchit got fired from his low-paying job on Christmas Eve. Sure, it was a miserable job–the office was freezing in the winter, the hours were long, and he had only one day off each year. Christmas Day. And then there was his boss, Ebenezer Scrooge. As I watched A Christmas […]
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By Amanda Cleary Eastep For me, it was more shocking than discovering Santa wasn’t real. Despite all the Christmas pageant memorization I endured growing up Lutheran, it wasn’t until high school when I realized that the Three Wise Men WERE NEVER AT THE MANGER. The whole nativity scenario my classmates and I had played out each Christmas Eve for proud […]
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By Amanda Cleary Eastep I’m back to volunteering to teach writing workshops at The Bridge Teen Center. What happens around that table never changes, not really, just the faces and the words. The need of these young people to express themselves is always there, despite their education or neighborhood or personal challenges. This is an updated post […]
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Amanda Cleary Eastep 