Good morning... I love being the first awake on Christmas Eve morning. I turn on our tree lights, look a moment at our nativity, and mix up the chocolate batter for my husband's fifty-ninth birthday cake. We will celebrate as a family at 1:00 pm today before I work the second shift at Northside Church, welcoming worshippers to [...]
Good morning... My husband Steve is a multi-faceted guy. Husband and father. Son and brother. High school teacher, chaplain, and wrestling coach. Good friend, loyal listener, and honest communicator. But one thing you may not know about Steve is this: he loves leading groups on trips to Israel. Every other year, Steve shepherds Lovett students in footprints left [...]
Good morning... I have never understood the phrase fear of the Lord. It seems like such an oxymoron to fear a God who loves us unconditionally, beyond our wildest imagination. The things we fear we usually stay away from, so why does Proverbs 1:7 make it clear that fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge? [...]
Good morning... Faith is the assurance of things you have hoped for, the absolute conviction that there are realities you’ve never seen. It was by faith that our forebears were approved. Through faith we understand that the universe was created by the word of God; everything we now see was fashioned from that which is invisible (Hebrews 11:1-3, [...]
Good morning... How will homebound kids bounce back from nearly a year of remote learning? How will the economy bounce back after its nosedive? How will hurting families bounce back from the loss of loved ones, unemployment, and food/housing insecurity? How will our churches bounce back into regular attendance? How will our communities bounce back after conflict, division, [...]
Good morning... Writing yesterday's blog post, Grass Isn't Always Greener, I was tucked in between two life-giving emails. Before I began writing around 4:30 am, I read the following encouragement from my eighty-seven year old friend. Sue, Thank you for including me in your blog, which cheered me up, once again in the story of our Lord's birth. [...]
Good morning... "The second week of our Gift from the Sea study brings to my mind a poem," she writes. "Slow Me Down, Lord" has graced my home and heart for many years and is a constant source of comfort and peace with the busyness of life." ****** SLOW ME DOWN, LORD (by Wilfred Arlan Peterson) Slow [...]
Good morning... I followed the suggestion given in yesterday's blog post, Stand Actively Silent. "Active silence," Dr. James Johnson explained, "is stepping to the back of the line and creating space and opportunity for others to speak, especially those who don’t look like me or experience life as I do – those voices that I don’t normally hear." In [...]
Good morning... I am prayerfully considering which book to teach in our living room next fall, in small groups, sitting six feet apart. With a short stack of possibilities, I read through piles of pages. At the right moment, I trust the Holy Spirit to nudge, "Sue, this is the one I have chosen." "When the sun goes [...]
Good morning... Today is Senior Sunday at our church, an annual celebration of the high school seniors raised by our church family. Every year, I love to flip through the traditional glossy trifold bulletin announcing the name, the high school, and the college of choice for each fresh graduating face. This unusual year, I noticed three changes right [...]
