Do NOT Be My Friend

Good morning... With loss after loss after loss, it feels like tragedy swarms like bees around me and my husband. I sometimes feel like whispering a warning to people, "Do NOT be our friend." My fearful thinking continues: "Because if you are our friend, deep pain may descend." Then one of you wrote me a truly touching email [...]

By |2019-07-21T08:59:09-04:00July 22nd, 2019|Community, Friendship, God's Love, Loss|

A Eulogy for Cole

Good morning... It was Saturday, July 6th, the first morning of our family's vacation at my mother-in-law's log cabin on a tiny lake in Pennsylvania. I was leisurely floating on an intertube, chatting with my sister-in-law, when my husband Steve and my son Kyler called me over with these words, "Hey mom. Come here for a second. There [...]

By |2019-07-19T09:05:09-04:00July 19th, 2019|Community, Death And Resurrection, Depression, Grief, Healing|

We Honor Cole’s Life

Good morning... Receiving this sympathy email from the church, our community's loss is formally announced. Sympathy Northside Church extends its deepest sympathy to the family and friends of Cole McAfee Hagood, who passed away on Saturday, July 6, 2019. Memorial Service The Memorial Service will be at Northside Church in the Sanctuary on Friday, July 12, 2019 at 2:00 [...]

By |2019-07-13T18:52:43-04:00July 12th, 2019|Community, Death And Resurrection, Family and Friends, Grief, Loss|

Glow Like Stars

Good morning... "Good morning Sue," a subscriber wrote from miles away. "I’m so, so sorry for the weight of grief and sadness you must carry - I thought of a quote I read just last week that was posted by Sarah Williams, a mother grieving the loss of her toddler: 'I have loved the stars too fondly to [...]

By |2019-07-09T07:34:17-04:00July 9th, 2019|Community, God's Love, Grief, Light In Darkness, Trust God|

Be Light

Good morning... I am not from here, this big, bustling city of Atlanta, Georgia. I was happily settled in the small Pennsylvania town of my dreams, walking to and from everything, with easy drives to extended family, loving and being loved by sister-like friends. Then, with the help of a group of diligently praying mothers and against my [...]

By |2019-07-08T07:59:03-04:00July 8th, 2019|Community, Everyday life, God's Plan, Light In Darkness|

Savor Sabbath: Another Tragedy

Good morning... Yesterday morning, tragedy cut short the life of another young man, a young man for whom I love to serve homemade Stromboli. Now, huddled together, we nestle into the nurturing nest God has built for our online community. How do we respond to this special kind of grief, processing the life-changing loss of family and friends [...]

By |2019-07-07T10:02:33-04:00July 7th, 2019|Community, God's Love, Grief, Loss, Sabbath|

Cocooned In God’s Care

Good morning... I woke panicked. Could it be true? I briefly dreamed that my computer was mysteriously downloading thousands, and thousands, and thousands more email addresses for new subscribers, before sending out our morning message, blanketing a growing multitude with God's peace, power, protection. Then suddenly a large scale, mass tragedy struck, and miraculously, together, we were shielded [...]

By |2019-07-03T04:03:10-04:00July 3rd, 2019|Aging, Anxiety, Community, God's Love, Peace|

We Share Life’s Load

Good morning... "It’s so interesting, Sue," looking back over June one of you wrote, "when you felt the leading of the Spirit to continue to write during the summer months, I grieved for you. (See our post My Change Of Heart). I grieved the loss of freedom of time and the setting aside of responsibility for you. I [...]

By |2019-07-01T04:42:39-04:00July 1st, 2019|Community, Everyday life, Peace, Trust God|

Savor Sabbath: God Loves Through Us

Good morning... While my husband and I were talking about the cartoon from our post yesterday, he said, "It reminds me of a commonly used sermon illustration." He went on to ask, "When it comes to making a bacon and egg breakfast, what is the difference between the chicken and the pig? (.....Drum roll please.....) The chicken makes [...]

By |2019-06-29T08:40:32-04:00June 30th, 2019|Community, Everyday life, God's Love, Healing|

A Crazy-Making Cartoon

Good morning... I chuckled when I saw this cartoon at the bottom of last week's email from my friend Emily Wingfield. I chuckled, and I felt convicted. This cartoon parks in the lane of our shared hardened handicap, the handicap of our old human nature. We look around us and we want change, but we look inside ourselves [...]

By |2019-06-29T07:50:38-04:00June 29th, 2019|Community, Everyday life, Spiritual Growth, Trust God|
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