Good morning... "You’ve always given me breathing room, a place to get away from it all, a lifetime pass to your safe-house, an open invitation as your guest," says Psalm 61:3-5 in the Message translation. "You’ve always taken me seriously, God, made me welcome among those who know and love you." Morning by morning, we curl up on [...]
Good morning... In my quiet time of prayer I think about our Jewish friends who witnessed the stabbing of hatred in the safety of their rabbi's home, the shock of Sunday morning worshippers fired upon by a gunman in the sacredness of their small sanctuary, and the complex grief of the family and friends of those misguided men [...]
Happy New Year... "I cannot pray at night in bed," many people confess to me. "I just end up falling asleep. I feel so bad falling asleep on God." In response I always say, "The way I see it, there is no better way to fall asleep." Drifting to sleep sharing thoughts with God, what could be better? In fact, [...]
Good morning... As an online community, we traveled different paths leading up to Christmas morn. Some signed up for the daily Advent devotional I wrote for our church, "With God Weather Life." Some chose not to subscribe to receive our morning messages. Along with these online posts, some enjoyed a hard copy of the material, a soft small [...]
Dear LORD... Hold us. Love us. Guide us. You who keeps no record of wrongs, Your voice is always gentle and always kind. We each have a tiny chapel in our hearts where we can meet intimately with You. Anytime. Anywhere. As we move into this season of great joy and expectation, we also may happen upon moments [...]
Good morning... Praying aloud in front of a crowd, Jesus said to our Father: "Now I'm returning to you. I'm saying these things in the world's hearing so my people can experience my joy completed in them" (John 17:13, MSG). It is an incredible thing to think the joy we experience in our everyday lives is actually the [...]
Good morning... In the quiet of right now, I envision my mind slowly lifting her inner sails, trying to catch the power of God's steadily stirring winds. I do not pray so I can change the brilliant mind of God. I pray so God transforms the changing mind in me. And do not be conformed to this world [...]
Good morning... On our behalf, Jesus continues praying to his Father. "I gave them your word. The godless world hated them because of it, because they didn’t join the world’s ways, just as I didn’t join the world’s ways. I’m not asking that you take them out of the world but that you guard them from the Evil One. They are no [...]
Good morning... Last Friday night, November 1st, I attended my friend's Day of the Dead party, a sacred evening when we celebrate loved ones who have gone on to heaven. The photo above is the altar I built to honor two young men, two of my 24-year-old son's close high school buddies, who have died suddenly in the [...]
Good morning... Often I allow some silence before I pray aloud with a group or when I am meeting with an individual, one-on-one or over the phone. Silence slows the pace; it opens breathing space and curtsies to the God of grace. As I offered closed-eyed silence before I said our prayer, a stream of words naturally bubbled [...]
