Good morning... During this winter season that feels treacherous to so many, I happened upon a new music video. Jelly Roll and Lauren Daigle have paired up to produce Faithful Through The Ages. "A raw, soul-deep anthem about a God who never walked away — even when life broke us down," writes one listener. "Jelly Roll’s gravel-hearted honesty [...]
Good morning... Before the winter storm blasted much of our country this weekend, I received the above image from Wisconsin. Inside, 60 degrees. Outside, negative 30, and that's without windchill! "What does negative 30 actually feel like?" I wondered. Then the winter weather arrived, and images came blowing in from family and friends. A shiny hard layer of [...]
Good morning... This week in class, we read aloud these words from the prologue of our book, Wintering: The Power of Rest and Retreat in Difficult Times by Katherine May. ****** Wintering is a season in the cold. It is a fallow period in your life when you're cut off from the world, feeling rejected, sidelined, blocked from [...]
Good morning... "Part of hearing God is listening," she said, filled with Holy Spirit wisdom. Those in our monthly spiritual growth group automatically responded, "That's profound. Can you say the sentence again?" "Part of hearing God is listening," she repeated herself. I typed the six words into my phone, knowing I might share them with you. "Words can [...]
Good morning... As we came in from the sunny winter cold to celebrate a friend's 80th birthday with our Thursday morning class, I received photos from Ohio. "We have about 5" of snow and most schools are closed," my dad texted. "It's much worse in the snow belt east of Cleveland." "Snow days off school," was one thing [...]
Good morning... On Sunday at church, I noticed a left-handed first grader filling out a coloring sheet entitled "Things I like to do in winter." After the service, I asked a staff person in the Children's Ministry if I could have a copy of the coloring sheet to use with our first classes of the semester. We are [...]
Good morning... As I sit beneath the growing weight of our now 40 lb. pup, Cami, I think about Philip Yancey and his wife of 55 years. My prayers go up like incense on their behalf as they drop from the public eye to work on their daily life, a life broken by his eight year affair. In [...]
Good morning... This Winter/Spring semester began yesterday. She began with a BAM! I spoke in all three worship services, 8:30 am, 9:00 am, and 11:15 am, sharing the opportunities offered through our Women's Ministry at Northside Church. Before and after each service, I enjoyed talking with longtime friends and staff members. Here is the invitation I extended. ****** [...]
Good morning... Much of this season we have spent stuck in a soupy, cloudy haze. Unable to see our collective truth clearly, the human experience of many has matched the gloomy weather. The characteristic blue sunny skies of the south have been covered over by grey. With sunshine feeling rare, I have missed the patches of winter light [...]
Good morning... In yesterday's post We Experience Epiphany, I shared the spiritual practice of choosing a star word to guide us into the new year. Journalist Marissa Hermanson explains, "Star words are given out to the congregation in early January on Epiphany Sunday as a way of remembering the story of the Magi following the star to find [...]
