Good morning... Gravity says, "What goes up, must come down." Planted bulbs promises, "What goes down must come up." A wise father encourages, "Plant rapid-rising radishes with your slow-growing carrots so, seeing green growth, you will not give up hope." And endurance develops strength of character, and character strengthens our confident hope of salvation. And this hope will [...]
Good morning... "Grandma, look, a mermaid!" I heard a little girl's voice shout from the shore as I swam this summer in Tingley Lake. Treading water, I gave my best "nod, smile, wave," like a beloved princess decked out at Disney World. Mermaid. I rarely run into that word, but the day after we returned from visiting family [...]
Good morning... Before choosing a book for each new semester, I prayerfully nestle into a few chapters from a small handful of possiblilities. God knows what lies before us. God knows our every need. I totally trust the LORD to nudge: "This is the book for the season ahead." Then I put the book down before reading it fresh, [...]
Good morning... In our Friday class, one young mom shared the title of a song that she and her daughters sing at the top of their lungs. This morning, relax into the beauty of this down-to-earth voice singing life-giving lyrics: "You Say" by Lauren Daigle. Finally, my dear friends, be glad that you belong to the Lord (Philippians [...]
Good morning... "Let's say I'm a plumber," said Dallas Wallard during an interview with Jan Johnson, "and I'm going to clean out someone's sewer. How will I do this as Jesus would do it? If you encounter difficulties with the people you're serving or with the pipe or machinery, you never fight that battle alone. You invoke the [...]
Good morning... As we crouch beneath our crazy cover-ups (see God Continues Our Conversation), God bestows both boundaries and blessings, offering us a lifetime of personalized protection. God Bestows Boundaries God says to the sneaky snake: "In the dust you will crawl on your belly and people will hate you, naturally keeping their safe distance. You might nip [...]
Good morning... Sometimes we forget what God said first to us-humans: "You are free to eat of any tree in the garden, but you must not eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, for when you eat it you will surely die" (Genesis 2:17, NIV). What is the one deadly thing we are told not [...]
Good morning... Life carves us down, life carves us down deep. Just scroll back through our past five posts. A cancer-free seven year old now safe in Jesus' arms. An eighteen year old breathing freely in heaven after a lifetime altered by Cystic Fibrosis. A twenty-seven year old wife and mom whose dream life was stolen by a [...]
Good morning... All week our TVs have afforded us front row seats for the forecasted devastation of Hurricane Florence. Experts have mapped out the mayhem, predicting the path of this strong-willed storm. What will we see when we turn on the news today? How many people over the coming hours will privately pray? "Save me, O God, for the waters [...]
Good morning... Wow. Yesterday I learned a startling truth: the word "biopsy" is not benign. Benign means good and mild, gentle and kind, tender and harmless. I know the word "biopsy" is not benign, because it caused a fearful stir. I quoted Erwin Raphael McManus in my post yesterday, a post entitled 911 Moments Form Our Faith. McManus [...]
