Good morning... "Dear Sue," she emailed me yesterday. "I think today was a God moment as I read Henri Nouwen's post Know that You Are Welcome and then moved on to your message, You Are Welcome Here. As we emailed back and forth, I shared that I was also so surprised by the synchronicity of the Spirit. After [...]
Good morning... "Your post about 'Welcoming Spirt' made me think of this song," she texted. "We sing it frequently at church. Anyway, many different versions but, regardless of who sings it, the words are so powerful." When I had a quiet moment I thoroughly enjoyed Kari Jobe and Cody Carnes singing live the song Holy Spirit. Then I [...]
Good morning... This eighteen inch wooden Willow Tree woman is the symbol I bought for myself the day I began serving as the Women's Ministry Director at Northside Church in January of 2008. Her name is "Welcoming Spirit," and she silently sits beside me in the wee hours of the night as I craft each blog post. As [...]
Good morning... The gathering at PAWkids tonight has been loosely planned. Given a brief description of the needs for the night, "snacks and drinks," an excited group of us stepped forward to provide refreshments as the police officers in Grove Park hold open the blue house to provide safety and loving care for the hungry and the homeless [...]
Good morning... Sorting through the junk in my purse, I came across the Henri Nouwen quote we discussed last month in our therapeutic community group at PAWkids. Reading this quote aloud together, I used colored pencils to highlight words capturing my attention. Might you slowly, quietly read these words aloud to yourself, noticing the words which intrigue you? [...]
Good morning... "Merry Christmas, my friend," I would personally text you if I knew each of your phone numbers. The Christ child is born, just like the promises of old have always predicted. This ruddy newborn's first visitors were the lowly, dirty shepherds. So they came as fast as they could and they found Mary and Joseph—and the [...]
Good morning... Three exquisite 4 x 6 inch cards. What an amazing Christmas gift given by my friend. The first card depicts Mary with the Christ child developing in her womb. What do you see as you ponder the image above? I see dark skin, yellow light, lots of shining stars sprinkling the rich royal blue, inside and [...]
Good morning... The joy was palpable as we created one hundred Christmas gift bags for police officers to deliver to senior citizens in the impoverished Grove Park area of our community. Before we began the PAWkids' project, I had no idea how we would actually accomplish the festive feat. After two fun-filled work sessions, everything came together almost [...]
Good morning... Before we gathered to create one hundred Christmas gift bags for the police officers to deliver to the senior citizens in the Grove Park neighborhood of our city, LaTonya Gates, founder and director of PAWkids, said, "Sue, I would love for you to include Bible verses in every bag." So I was gifted with the joy [...]
Good morning... At our annual Turkey Bowl, the welcome is wide, the laughter is contagious and the score always ends in a tie. Returning home to cook turkey and fixin's, I received an email responding to our Thanksgiving blog post. Early in the morning, as a written word community, we had experienced this prayer, a prayer written by [...]
