Good morning... One line lingers from a poem I shared this week: "Your ache. My ache." After last week's church service, several of us stayed behind to lay hands on Julianna, a 38 year old mom of four who is a committed member of our small group. We spoke intimate blessing over her and her husband, as she [...]
Good morning... Summertime for me is a very different season. At Northside Church, I work only eight hours each week for June and July, attending a monthly meeting for Pastors and Directors, responding to texts and emails each day, and keeping my commitment to walk/talk through life with the women connected to our vibrant ministry. On August 1st, [...]
Good morning... Over the years, several of us have traveled in small groups to Israel with my husband, Rev. Steve Allen, talented trip leader and head chaplain at The Lovett School. The experiences have been breath-taking, eye-opening, life-changing. Many more of us have enjoyed vicariously our blog posts from the Holy Land, year after year, during the spring [...]
Good morning... "Sue, you might want to check the list of people on your blog," Jennifer DeShetler texted after yesterday's heartbreaking post, Audrey Relapsed Again. "There have to be real angels of God reading. Dr. Kushner called Ben this morning." "Wow," I replied. "I have chills, Jennifer. God is at work in ways we cannot see or understand. [...]
Good morning... As I sip my morning coffee, I notice a swirl in the weathered wood. My mind is drawn back to a Soul Collage card I created earlier in the week. The powerful swirl of hurricane winds imitate the pattern of the knotted wood. Now that you have gathered our attention, Lord, what might you teach us [...]
Good morning... As the passage of time naturally expands, we end one month before the next begins. Today is May. Tomorrow will be June. Like being caught in the invisible power of gravity, we can't escape the ticking away of time. Spring naturally tips into summer, that's just life's way. We can't go back. We can't stay here. [...]
Good morning... This Memorial Day weekend, I snapped a luminous photo of the sun setting in the quiet woods. Emanating. Permeating. Radiating free. Today we remember so many beautiful souls who have passed on to forever while protecting our country and the freedoms we hold dear. Mysteriously, generation after generation, their presence with us continues to emanate, permeate, [...]
Good morning... As I reflect upon this school year, I am amazed at the growth God has orchestrated at PAWkids in the Grove Park neighborhood of our city. People connected to our Women's Ministry at Northside Church facilitated fun arts and crafts activities in the after school program for two hours every week. Excited kids tapped into their [...]
Good morning... Four thousand neighbors and me, we still have no internet. So, once again, no blogging in the middle of the night. Still stirred awake in the wee hours, I was drawn to another form of creativity. Accessing the healing power of pansies! Yesterday, I had cut some pansies from our neighborhood's dying patch before they are [...]
Good morning... Four thousand neighbors struggle with me through an internet outage. We have been without service for about thirty-six hours, thus no blog post this morning. No internet also means no TV, no email, none of the normal communications I usually take for granted. An insight sparks as I sit at Starbucks at 8:30 pm, writing. Our [...]
