Good morning... "Good vines require cutting and more cutting," says Sr. Judith Sutera, a Benedictine nun and vinedresser. "A mile of runners won't give you one more grape, so get rid of the branches that do not bear fruit. Do you want to keep everything? Then expect nothing. Cut. And then cut some more." By nature, I am [...]
Good morning... How do we grow up into our Christlike true self? We follow in the faithful footprints left by Jesus as he walked his short lifetime on this dusty earth. We listen to Jesus' constant encouragement: “Ask and keep on asking and it will be given to you; seek and keep on seeking and you will find; knock [...]
Good morning... Before the world began, God hardwired us for abundant life, on earth as it is in heaven. Have you ever come on anything quite like this extravagant generosity of God, this deep, deep wisdom? It’s way over our heads. We’ll never figure it out. Is there anyone around who can explain God? Anyone smart enough to [...]
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 [...]
Good morning... I woke to the company of an odd phrase. "Before Your word is on my lips." It sounded a bit biblical to me, so I typed the seven words into the subject line of Biblegateway.com. Nothing popped up. No references. No inspiration. I hit a dead end. So, I reduced the seven words down to three. [...]
Good morning... "On this morning, if I can leave anything with you, let me urge you to be sure that you have a strong boat of faith," said Rev. Martin Luther King, Jr. on March 3rd, 1968 at Ebenezer Baptist Church here in Atlanta, Georgia. "The winds are going to blow. The storms of disappointment are coming. The [...]
Good morning... In the midst of my prayer time, God is growing in me a fresh thought, a new-to-me idea, the spark of the small, simple diagram pictured above. I am certain that this line of thinking has been explored by other curious brains, as Ecclesiastes 1:9-10 (CEV) reminds us: Everything that happens has happened before; nothing is new, nothing under the [...]
Good morning... Blinking open his five senses to novel sights, smells, and sounds, the newly born Jesus ...was in the world, the world was there through him, and yet the world didn’t even notice (John 1:10b, MSG). Noticing Immanuel, God's powerful presence with us, does not happen immediately. Often, especially during the hectic of the holidays, we have a hard [...]
Good morning... When we are emptied out by the harshness of life, we dig deeper into God and are filled full in new ways. Each of our posts this week have touched on this theme: as we surrender our own expectations, God's higher ways begin to emerge. Touch the "Past Blog Posts" button below to review our everyday [...]
Good morning... Last Friday night, November 1st, I attended my friend's Day of the Dead party, a sacred evening when we celebrate loved ones who have gone on to heaven. The photo above is the altar I built to honor two young men, two of my 24-year-old son's close high school buddies, who have died suddenly in the [...]
