Good morning... "God sent Jesus to make free persons of us," points out spiritual mentor Henri Nouwen. "He has chosen compassion as the way to freedom. That is a great deal more radical than you might at first imagine. It means that God wanted to liberate us, not by removing suffering from us, but by sharing it with [...]
Good morning... I used to think I needed older, wiser mentors watering my seeds of faith, people pouring into me, helping me to grow. At the same time, I thought I was designed to be an older, wiser mentor, pouring into the lives of others, helping them to grow. Me being poured into so I could pour out. [...]
Good morning... "It’s the unknown which God's enemy uses to create fear, worry, anxiety," she quietly shared. Once we accept life as it is, uncertainty and all, we can face God's opponent saying with confidence, "You meant to hurt me, but God turned your evil into good to save the lives of many people, which is being done" [...]
Good morning... The Spirit of God continues to speak. Isaiah 50:10b-11 (NIV) sheds more Light on this portion of our path. Let the one who walks in the dark, who has no light, trust in the name of the Lord and rely on their God. But now, all you who light fires and provide yourselves with flaming torches, go, walk in the light of your [...]
Good morning... “How can we picture God’s kingdom?" asks Mark 4:30-32 in the Message translation. "What kind of story can we use?" we wonder within. "It’s like a pine nut," Mark says. "When it lands on the ground it is quite small as seeds go, yet once it is planted it grows into a huge pine tree with [...]
Good morning... I unzip my purse and unfold the church bulletin. I re-read from my Sunday morning scribblings of sermon notes. "When is the best time to plant a tree?" asked the pastor. After being greeted with silence he gave us the answer. "Twenty years ago. Twenty years ago is the best time to plant a tree." "When [...]
Good morning... I ran across this quote jotted in the margin of my book. "If you argue with what "is" you lose. But only 100% of the time." It strikes me that at the heart of each fear, each worry, each anxiety we are arguing with the Almighty God who is in charge of what "is," "what has been," [...]
Good morning... As 2019 tips into 2020, today is a day of looking back before we move forward. As I reminisce about the experiences of our online community this year, there are three things for which I feel most grateful. This is the year we shifted from me taking summers off from daily blog writing to become an [...]
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... In my dream I had gotten a brand new car, and the next morning I woke thrilled to spin away on my spiffy fresh wheels. Pushing the automatic opener attached to my pristine sun visor, I opened the garage door to make my car's maiden voyage. Fiddling with the new feel, I put the car in [...]
