Good morning... As a wide variety of passionate people share with me very personal perspectives, God is building through us an honest online community. Yesterday's post, The Fierce Urgency Of Now, unleashed an avalanche of raw responses, covering most every inch of our fertile common ground. I will gradually unpack our various perspectives on the unrest across our [...]
Good morning... I sat uncomfortably in the ant-filled grass, sweating in the sun, experiencing last weekend's rally. I listened attentively to story after story of unkind treatment, derogatory comments, rampant racism recalled by recent grads. I wanted to be witness. I wanted to give support. I wanted to say with my presence, "You are heard. You are valued. [...]
Good morning... "I keep this quote by my bedside," she wrote, sharing words from Lisa Beamer, whose husband died on 9/11. "Who is becoming whole again on your watch? What is being healed by your influence? How is God redeeming His creation by way of your life?” Then she added, "And I pray for God’s grace to recognize the opportunities [...]
Good morning... One week ago today I turned in devotional thoughts to be shared with our church family. Now as a church member, the morning message appears in my inbox. Even in this one single week in the foreverness of time, I sense God illuminating more of me as I feel the growing edge of the Spirit expanding [...]
Good morning... "I think we are all living in what Rohr calls liminal time," she said to me at a backyard reception following the funeral. Intuitively I agreed, then I thought to myself, "I need to look up the definition of that word again." Liminal. Wikipedia shares this drawing and this detailed description: "In [...]
Good morning... Since 2006, God has organically grown my spiritual gifts in the rich soil of Northside Church. I have seen many staff members come and many go, but one person I have seen stay, grow, and flourish is Dr. James Johnson, our Director of Adult Discipleship. During this period of pandemic, our church has begun sharing online [...]
Good morning... If I am a grain of wheat, I wrestle with John 12:24. Jesus says, “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." You see, I like [...]
Good morning... My old iPhone 5-S died. I posted about that yesterday. As the day unfolded, it became clear: our morning message was not about my phone. It was about our shared sense of losing touch. Stripped by the chaos of Corona, our economic breakdown, and the unrest of injustice, collectively we have lost a lot. As manmade [...]
Good morning... I open Biblegateway.com and read the verse for today. As you do not know the path of the wind, or how the body is formed in a mother’s womb, so you cannot understand the work of God, the Maker of all things (Ecclesiastes 11:5, NIV). An old favorite poem pops to mind. I google the phrase "God's [...]
Good morning... Waking very early on Mother's Day morn, in quiet anticipation I open the package bearing my mom's beautiful handwriting. "Susie," the note sent from Ohio begins with my nickname. "A homemade Mother's Day card during the Covid-19 virus shelter-in-place order this year. The wish never changes. May your Mother's Day be special surrounded by your caring [...]
