Allen RedingStories & Reflections
A man watching windblown leaves through a window
The featured essay · Living faith

Observing
the Wind.

On the paralysis of perfectionism—and the ancient wisdom that helps us finally begin.

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Faith, memories, and the grace hidden in ordinary days.A little perspective. A little humor.

A few stories to stay with.

ALL WRITING ↗
01
Living Faith · February 7, 2026

Not Running on Empty

I was sitting in a Sunday service recently listening to my pastor talk about the importance of staying close to God, and my mind started comparing my spiritual walk lately to a car that just won’t start. The picture came so clearly I had to pull out my iPad right there and jot down the scenario before I lost it.

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02
Looking Back · February 6, 2026

When the Manna Stopped

In the classic Depression-era film The Grapes of Wrath, the Joad family piled everything they owned onto a flatbed truck and headed west with nothing but hope and some dubious flyers promising work in California. They were characters on a screen, but for my family, those rickety trucks and dusty roads were real life.

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03
Living Faith · February 5, 2026

Roots Before the Storm

When God created the earth, He didn’t make a single thing to stand on its own two feet forever. Not an insect, not a bird, not a beast of the field, or a plant was designed to be self-sufficient. Every living thing has a hunger that must be satisfied, a need to be made new and whole again day after day.

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“What she remembered was that in the middle of her world falling apart, one teacher noticed she was a person worth missing.”
From The Shaking Class Roster ↗
I’m Allen.

I write about the things that stay with us: faith tested by real life, memories that arrive without warning, and the grace hidden in days that seem unremarkable.

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Allen Reding · Stories & ReflectionsFaith · Memory · Everyday grace