Good morning... "God, my shepherd!" says Psalm 23:1-4 in the Message translation. "I don’t need a thing. You have bedded me down in lush meadows, you find me quiet pools to drink from. True to your word, you let me catch my breath and send me in the right direction. Even when the way goes through Death Valley, I’m not afraid when you walk at my side." [...]
Good morning... This virus exposes our bitter truth: stuck in this together, we are all aging dogs forced to learn new tricks. For the first time in my life, I am making room for Zoom, a virtual event where one person hosts a meeting and multiple participants communicate through the computer screen. With many of us working from [...]
Good morning... "We're adjusting to a new reality," musicians in this video admit, "and we'll have to find solutions in order to support each other. Creative forces help us, let's think outside the box and use innovation to keep our connection and make it work together. Because if we do it together, we will succeed." This energizing endeavor [...]
Good morning... "Where's dad?" our twenty-one year old daughter asked. "He's on the back porch drinking bourbon with his brother." The sentence sounded super silly as it rolled right off my tongue, since Steve's only brother lives in Omaha, Nebraska umpteen miles away from our corner of the globe in Atlanta, Georgia. A new habit has formed in [...]
Good morning... Surprisingly, one of my supervisor's survey questions pierced a sensitive nerve, sort of like when the dentist finds a cavity and pain shoots everywhere. "When it comes to workload at Northside, how heavy is the burden or light is the load?" That was the question striking my nesting nerve. We were asked to respond on a scale [...]
Good morning... "Get beyond yourselves and protecting your own interests; be sincere, and secure your neighbors’ interests first," urges Philippians 2:4 in the VOICE translation. In verses five through eleven, God's Word continues: In other words, adopt the mind-set of Jesus the Anointed. Live with His attitude in your hearts. Remember: Though He was in the form of God, [...]
Good morning... When my husband was in college, he took a trip to Israel with a small group of students and his favorite professor. Something important awakened in Steve as he walked the steps of Jesus, read Bible stories in the places they actually occurred, and collaborated on the questions of faith brewing in his heart. Walking and [...]
Good morning... I used to think I needed older, wiser mentors watering my seeds of faith, people pouring into me, helping me to grow. At the same time, I thought I was designed to be an older, wiser mentor, pouring into the lives of others, helping them to grow. Me being poured into so I could pour out. [...]
Good morning... "When you take a child and you sit a box on top of them, all they know is what is inside the box," said the quote that began this week's morning messages. "But if you remove that box then the rest of the world is at their fingertips." The same is true for all of us, [...]
Good morning... Yesterday renown basketball player Kobe Bryant died in a helicopter crash at age 41. I jotted these notes as I listened to the news report. "Legendary advocate for boys sports and girls sports alike. Poised. Self-aware. Hard working. Man of the world. Determined to prove himself. Endured grueling rehab so that our last image of him [...]
