Good morning... My son sends me his favorite sermons sometimes. This week he sent me the link to Matt Chandler's 5.27.07 sermon from The Village Church near Dallas, Texas. I found Chandler's wisdom to be very eye-opening, quite appropriate to consider as we end one year and begin another. Chandler challenges us: "Idolatry in your heart and in my [...]
Good morning... Over Thanksgiving weekend, I took a private walk to the nearby horse farm with our puppy of eight months. As Tate and I circled around the familiar path, I came upon a woman sitting on a rock overlooking the river. As I said, "Hello," she looked up and I saw the tearful eyes of a friend I [...]
Good morning... God's wisdom echoes. “Listen carefully: Unless a grain of wheat is buried in the ground, dead to the world, it is never any more than a grain of wheat. But if it is buried, it sprouts and reproduces itself many times over. In the same way, anyone who holds on to life just as it is destroys [...]
Good morning... Donning my name and address, a padded, manila envelop arrived at my doorstep. Doesn't everyone love an unexpected gift? I took time to carefully open the seal, and my heart smiled big as I pulled from the protective package my personal copy of The Hidden Life Awakened, a freshly reprinted, expanded version of one of my all [...]
Good morning... It seems to me, we have a choice to make. We can mindlessly let time take us or we can prayerfully learn the art of taking time. In Ephesians 5:11-16 (MSG), I discover a clarifying call to action. Don’t waste your time on useless work, mere busywork, the barren pursuits of darkness (unconsciously numbing, going through the [...]
Good morning... “Come with me by yourselves to a quiet place and get some rest,” says Jesus as we pick up the story in Mark 6:30-44 (NIV). Ahhh. Sweet rest. After all of the chaotic comings and goings, Jesus invites his close friends to rest and rejuvenate. So they went away by themselves in a boat to a solitary [...]
Good morning... "When we sit in silence, it’s true, we may not be doing anything. But we are un-doing so much," says blogger Emily P. Freeman. Emily continues: "The soul is made to receive. In the presence of God, we experience a right full-ness. But like a bucket left out in the yard, it will hold anything that comes [...]
Good morning... As we learned about the chaos of transition in our class last week, the letting go of what was, the discomfort of living in uncertainty, and the waiting in trust for God to rebuild a new life around us, she suddenly said, "That reminds me of when I was a kid." She went on to explain, "My [...]
Good morning... "Surely the Chinese curse is upon us: 'May you live in interesting times!'" writes Margaret Silf, author of The Other Side of Chaos, one of the books we are studying in my living room this semester. "And the ideogram for crisis also comes to mind, with its combination of the symbols representing 'danger' and 'opportunity' - a [...]
Good morning... As she nestled into the monastery for a weekend retreat, my friend read these framed words on the wall. Forget safety. Live where you fear to live. Destroy your reputation and be notorious. - Rumi By nature, she plays it safe. She heeds the warning signs of her fears. Her reputation has taken a long time to [...]
