Good morning... Today we wake to a special day. Wikipedia explains: "GivingTuesday, often stylized as #GivingTuesday for the purposes of hashtag activism, is the Tuesday after Thanksgiving in the United States. It is touted as a 'global generosity movement unleashing the power of people and organizations to transform their communities and the world.'" Well, I feel like we [...]
Good morning... Last Friday night, I received this text from a friend. "At a Rally Foundation event," she wrote. "The DeShetlers just won a trip!! God's handiwork!" (As you likely remember, Audrey DeShetler's fifteen year cancer journey took her to heaven in June, ten hours shy of her twentieth birthday). Texting with Jennifer and our Fab Five friend [...]
Good morning... The unusual word "storehouse" came to me twice last week. In our blog post on Saturday, we savored this prayer. Father, make my mind a storehouse for past promises kept, love lavished and hope fulfilled. Earlier in the week we had read "storehouse" in our book, God's Joyful Surprise by Sue Monk Kidd. Now I turn [...]
Good morning... The heavens declare the glory of God; the skies proclaim the work of his hands. Day after day they pour forth speech; night after night they reveal knowledge. They have no speech, they use no words; no sound is heard from them. Yet their voice goes out into all the earth, their words to the ends [...]
Good morning... With full time work, a new puppy, and our first grandbaby on the way, I wonder, "How can I do it all?" As a daughter to aging parents miles away, friends strewn all over the world, and only twenty-four hours in each day, I ask God, "How can I do it all?" With a middle-of-the-night blogging [...]
Good morning... Today is November 1st, the day the SNAP (Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program) and WIC (Women, Infants, and Children) benefits are set to expire for millions of vulnerable Americans. A 2023 report revealed that, of food stamp recipients in our country, about 39% were children, 20% were elderly, and 10% were non-elderly individuals with a disability. Though [...]
Good morning... I had not talked to my friend from Minnesota since the beginning of the summer, so we had a lot of catching up to do. As we shared a phone call this week, I got teary as I told her about putting our dog, Tate, to sleep in June. Tears surprisingly still flowed as I heard [...]
Good morning... We are all designed to live each day from "...the place where our lives touch and mingle with God's. A shared space, a center," writes Sue Monk Kidd on page 61 in God's Joyful Surprise. This crucial concept expands all over these holy pages. "A center is not simply an inner place where you are in [...]
Good morning... Tomorrow, our faithful family at Northside Church is celebrating 75 fertile years of sharing the love of Christ. I love the logo designed by our talented Creative Art department, especially the winding river of stones pouring through the centered cross of Christ. This "river of life" adorns the floor in Northside's sacred prayer chapel. I believe [...]
Good morning... As we walked the streets of Asheville, North Carolina last weekend, we happened upon three words etched in sidewalk chalk. I just had to snap a photo. Change is good. Really? I'm not sure what I think about this statement. Part of me loves it. We are always changing. Always growing. Always evolving. Part of me [...]
