Good morning... "Amen and amen," she wrote after yesterday's post, God's Peace Is Louder Than Bombs. She continued: "After a year of what has felt like bombs in our world order, I’m wondering if God’s faithful are digging in closer to Him (breathing deeply) and exhaling more of His goodness, grace, peace, and light. Let’s make this the year [...]
Good morning… I accidentally ran into a Bible verse I have never before met. This blessing is tucked away in Jude, the easily-missed, two-page book of the Bible appearing just before Revelation. This sentence sums up my deep prayer for each of us, as we tiptoe slowly into a brand new year. May mercy and peace and love be [...]
Good morning... Life dishes out tons of trouble and some of us are served a high, heaping helping. Troubles come in many forms: short-lived or long-lasting, self-inflicted or unexpected, collectively experienced or randomly singled out. For some of us, troubles are fueled by our inner critic: "I can't believe you said that. Did that. Messed up. Again." For others, troubles [...]
Good morning... "Many years ago I was a part of a church in which an upcoming vote would decide the church's future," writes Jan Johnson on page 153 in When the Soul Listens. "I asked God to show me the wiser choice, but no insight came. All I seemed to hear was 'Don't forget to love." "I replied, 'And?'" "I [...]
Good morning... As we ate our traditional egg-sausage-cheese casserole before opening gifts, my husband and I played for our sixteen and eighteen year olds our favorite Christmas song from 1998. Though some of the pictures are a bit hokey in this music video, God's-grand-plan put to music gives me tingles every time. Watch and be moved to a deeper [...]
Good morning... I just experienced a surprise blessing. In the midst of my quiet time, God coaxed me to read the beginning of each of the four gospels (Matthew 1:18-25, Mark 1:1-11, Luke 2:1-7, John 1:1-18). Melting together all of these accounts, these words shimmer for me this Christmas morning. What is conceived is from the Holy Spirit. Give [...]
Good morning... With her husband and kids away, our friend invited a cool group of women to a "Pop-Up Christmas Party." Yummy food. Water and wine. Great conversations. "It's been a very hard year," said one person I see periodically. Her husband, in his fifties, has faced life-threatening health scares. "It has been humbling to need people in a [...]
Good morning... "I used to think that God's gifts were on shelves one above the other and that the taller we grew in Christian character, the more easily we should reach them," a friend from our peer supervision group read to us over the phone an F.B. Meyer quote. "I find now that God's gifts are on shelves one [...]
Good morning... In our final Listening Group of the semester, I intended to unwrap Chapter 3, but by "mistake" I read aloud excerpts from Chapter 4, a chapter entitled "God's Compassion for the Rebellious." I shared aloud these introductory words before we slowly read, reread, and reflected on the parable of the prodigal son found in Luke 15:11-24. "You [...]
Good morning... The image filling my mind has three parts: a single red rose bud in a simple vase, a clean kitchen counter, and an under cabinet beam of accent light. Today I wake late following an annual Christmas gathering with the vision of a rose resting on the counter, basking in warmth of cozy kitchen light. As I [...]
