Good morning... Her text came in after I had climbed in bed last night. Now I wake in the middle of the night to read her words. "Happy New Year, Sue!" she wrote. "It has been a whirlwind with joys and sorrows, once again, at the same time. We are blessed with so many loving family members. The [...]
Good morning... A fun poem I met earlier in the week came to life at the PAWkids Christmas party. As a complete surprise, I was presented with a dozen red roses from the After-School Program Director. She was thanking me for all of the incredible Christmas bags our Northside Church women shared with the families of Grove Park, [...]
Good morning... I did stuff I shouldn't have done. I didn't do everything I should have. I'm up tonight, obsessing about "things I've done and things I've left undone." This phrase - "things I've done and things I've left undone" - this phrase shaped my mind as a child as, by rote, I recited it each Sunday as [...]
Good morning... In the photo above, the words on the wall say it all. "This is our happy place." The generosity of people in our community astounds me. Bags of donated items for our annual Secret Santa shop for the PAWkids after-school program appeared at our doorstep all weekend long. I felt the holy privilege of touching each [...]
Good morning... In mid November, our Mission Circle gathered at Northside Church to donate items and assemble Thanksgiving boxes for twenty-three of the food-insecure families at Sutton Middle School. After loading up the truck and driving the Thanksgiving meals across the street to the school, I received a text from one of the group leaders. [...]
Good morning... Two tiny pounds. The smallest puppy I ever snuggled weighed two tiny pounds. Yesterday, our finger-to-fur time was free, and his soft little licks were precious, just precious. And puppy breath, wow, it's one of the best scents on earth. Fitting in the palm of my hand, this new creature of God was a source of [...]
Good morning... "Remember our definition of joy," Kay Warren writes on page 124 in Choose Joy. "Joy is the settled assurance that God is in control of all the details of my life, the quiet confidence that ultimately everything is going to be all right, and the determined choice to praise God in all things." "Do you see [...]
Good morning... This election day morn, enjoy Tony-winning Alex Newell and inspirational voices from Broadway as they perform Allen René Louis’ powerful new arrangement of “Keep Marching” from the musical "Suffs". The descriptor below the energizing music video explains the uplifting gift. "Joy To The Polls (JTTP) is a nonpartisan voting initiative that uses music and art to [...]
Good morning... This Halloween morning 2024, I notice three things. An ending. A beginning. And the culmination of a fun season. First, today is the ending to the registration period for our "Finding Peace of Mind Through Brain Science & Spiritual Practices: A Faith-Based Symposium" being hosted at The Carter Center on November 15th. Remember? My dear friend [...]
Good morning... Living miles away makes a family visit even sweeter. With my mom's slow recovery from a series of serious surgeries, she has not felt up for a large family gathering since November of 2021. "Absence makes the heart grow fonder," explains the truth we experienced this weekend. On Friday evening, our immediate family of seven flew [...]
