Good morning... "Christ Holds It All Together" reads the heading above Colossians 1:15-20 in the Message translation. As we bullet point the wisdom of this lively section of Scripture, we begin to sense why the risen Christ is so essential to our entire existence. We look at this Son and see the God who cannot be seen. We [...]
Good morning... As she read to me over the phone this poem by Ranier Maria Rilke, I calmed into my body in a very settled way. "Let everything happen to you: beauty and terror. Just keep going. No feeling is final. Don't let yourself lose me." Embodying this whisper, everything is [...]
Good morning... Her blog post was sobering, surrendering, soul-touching. Sifting through a pile of powerful words, she unleashed life-giving song lyrics, "Don't waste today being scared of tomorrow." ****** Excerpt from Elizabeth's PostHope blog post, February 1, 2024 Too much heaviness. Too much weight. Too much pain. Too much fear. Too much wondering. Too much waiting. Too much [...]
Good morning... If we were to send out a Christmas card this year, we would likely share this sweet family photo from the September day our son Kyler married his amazing wife Chandler. What you would not see is the bitter of the hurricane sweeping through Charleston, S.C. two days before, or the bitter of my parents missing [...]
Good morning... "What people stand to discover...is the close relationship between individual heartbreak and the brokenheartedness of the world," notices Barbara Brown Taylor in Learning to Walk in the Dark. "While those who are frightened by the primal energy of dark emotions try to avoid them, becoming more and more cut off from the world at large, those [...]
Good morning... A dear friend in our Friday morning group keeps us closely connected to the progress of her daughter-in-law, 37-year-old Elizabeth, who is battling advanced colon cancer. Periodically, Elizabeth writes candid blog posts to track her brave journey. This week, she shared important wisdom from a book she just finished reading. ****** Excerpt from Elizabeth's 10/19 PostHope [...]
Good morning... I went with a dear friend to the CeCe Winans concert at the Fox Theatre this week. This week, as Jerry's body was laid to rest at age 64, leaving his family and friends to grieve. This week, when thousands of ordinary people have lost their lives on all the ugly sides of our world's deep [...]
Good morning... I love this image from Kate Bowler's devotional for the week. The picture gently holds hands with title of her email. "Joy is the oxygen for doing hard things." This subject line is a quote from Gary Haugen who runs International Justice Mission, "a non-profit organization committed to liberating vulnerable individuals from the clutches of modern [...]
Good morning... As I woke from my second sleep yesterday, I revisited our blog post, I Don't Know What I Feel. "I created the wordless prayer card above to say what I do not know how to feel," I wrote. "Taking time to really look at the image intimately, what wordless prayers rise up in you now?" I [...]
Good morning... "Sue and Steve," a longtime friend emailed my husband and me yesterday. "Sending blessings to the two of you who minister to so many in so many ways. I bet you already have this resource, but I’m forwarding in case you don't. Steve, I am praying for you and our community at Lovett as we begin [...]
