Good morning... I love this hand-painted clock that lives in our basement. It is a clock with no hands which mysteriously sets itself to God's perfect timing. I just experienced a moment of God-ordained timing. I have been up since 4:30 am working on this morning's blog post with God. Just as I was about to push "send," [...]
Good morning... Since the evening my spiritual mentor texted me this poem, I have been prayerfully pondering, 'What might these words mean for me?" ****** Gethsemane: A Poem By Mary Oliver The grass never sleeps. Or the roses. Nor does the lily have a secret eye that shuts until morning. Jesus said, wait with me. But the disciples [...]
Good morning... "Because of my tech savvy ineptness, I couldn’t write about this picture of a pansy," she wrote me the day after our final Waking Up Whole Zoom class. "This pansy is from my garden," she explained in her follow up email. "I named it 'bloom where you don’t want to be planted.'" I like the persistent [...]
Good morning... In the Christian calendar today is Palm Sunday. We remember Jesus riding on a donkey through the streets of Jerusalem. Many people carpeted the road in front of him with their cloaks and prayer shawls, while others gathered palm branches and spread them before him. Jesus rode in the center of the procession, with crowds going [...]
Good morning... God has bound into my spiritual "bundle" ninety-five year old Betty Skinner. Let me tell you why her vibrant life is so very important to me. When I read the original printed version of The Hidden Life, published by Kitty Crenshaw and Dr. Cathy Snapp in 2006, the spirit of the main character, Betty, leapt from [...]
Good morning... For me, tonight quietly signifies another invisible loss. Since 2007, each Tuesday night before Ash Wednesday we have hosted our annual Women's Lenten Communion Service. For fourteen straight years, God has prepared our hearts for the season of Lent by gathering at church with a standing-room-only crowd, listening to a life-changing, God-revealing story from the ordinary [...]
Good morning... The drunk, the hunk, the chunk, and the monk, we are all in the process of being converted by God, from selfishness to servanthood, from dogmatic answers to life-giving questions, from "Why me?" to "Here I am, Lord, send me." True conversion involves a change of attitude, emotion, and viewpoint from one of disbelief, indifference, and [...]
Good morning... "I really don't want 2020 to end," she said quietly as we talked in her garage, protected from the drizzly rain. "2020 will always be the last year my husband was alive." Her deep sorrow is not alone. For many of us, 2020 is the last year our spouse or our parent, our friend or our [...]
Good morning... This morning, I have the privilege of taping a podcast on grief with nurse practitioner, Ginna MacFarling, and Northside Church's Director of Adult Discipleship, James Johnson. Having walked beside many through the grieving process, twice Ginna has helped to lead our well-loved six-week series, "Living Fully - Dying Well." Preparing for our podcast, Ginna gathered some [...]
Good morning... The Results of an I-Centered Life is the title of Rick Warren's devotional message from October 28th, 2020. “When ‘I’ am at the center of everything in my life, that’s sin,” writes Rick. “We all have an 'I' problem: I want it my way; I will do my thing; I have to take care of myself first; [...]
