Good morning... As quiet ripples of moonlight rest on our bathroom floor, I snap a photo and prepare to write in the middle of this night. First, I open an email my husband and I had discussed yesterday. Reading Steve's words with my own eyes makes the many layers of loss feel much more real. "Dear Israel Trip [...]
Good morning... On Tuesday, September 11th, 2001, suicide hijackers seized U.S. passenger jets and crashed them into two New York skyscrapers, tragically killing nearly three thousand innocent people on one ordinary day. On this Monday, September 11th, 2023 we honor the memory of those loved ones lost on the twenty-second anniversary of the attack, which remains [...]
Good morning... Our Julie's Dream prayer team met by Zoom yesterday morning to pray over the lives of the inner city kids we take on trips to explore God's expansive creation. We prayed for the family of kids who recently witnessed their mother murdered by her boyfriend. We prayed for the talented trip leader from a neighboring non-profit [...]
Good morning... "Hi Sue," a friend wrote. "I thought you would like to see what some loving friends placed in the Johnson's front yard yesterday. People are adding to it as they feel led to show their love for Kaitlyn and her family, share in their grief and hold on to the hope and promise of the Lord's [...]
Good morning... Traveling to a weekend gathering with our small group from church, we drove down to south Georgia the day after treacherous storms. I snapped a crappy photo out the window as the traffic inched through a section of road where trees on both sides of the road were mangled, ripped up, stripped bare, toppled. A large [...]
Good morning... After our therapeutic community group yesterday, I spent quality time with Larenzia Lawrence, the daughter of LaTonya Gates, who is the founder and director of PAWkids, a non-profit supporting the neediest families in downtown Atlanta. Larenzia and I are pictured above. Last Wednesday tragedy struck the family of Larenzia's childhood best friend as a fire ripped [...]
Good morning... As the sun set on Sunday, September 11th, 2022, one loyal subscriber sent a picture of God's presence off the coast of Oregon. On the very same night, God's living presence was captured in a different time zone by another reader. "My Sunday sunset view on a flight home to Florida," she shared this stunning photo. [...]
Good morning... My parents in Ohio donated $25 to PAWkids (a non-profit in downtown Atlanta) in honor of 3-year-old Ludvig, who is battling cancer in Oslo, Norway. Wow, what an opening sentence - Ohio, Georgia, Norway. Look at God's creative web of connectivity! This seed money became a magnet for the generosity of many and, through individual donations [...]
Good morning... I have a dear friend who sends me wise quotes. During this time of great grief, she sent me two sacred sentences, filled with grace and tender with truth. She texted, "I think of a Stephen Curtis Chapman quote when they lost their daughter: 'We have been to the bottom and have found it to be [...]
"Good morning," she texted yesterday. "A little tired today," she continued. "Heartbroken for the families and community in Uvalde, Texas. Thinking about people like Steve (my husband, a chaplain) who are there - and everywhere - comforting families and friends reconciling loss, preparing words for services, walking in for visits." "This morning I am deep into Kate Bowler's [...]
