Good morning... Some scriptures feel like a slap in the face. To me, the verses in Luke 9:57-62 (CEV) are shocking, confusing, disturbing. Along the way someone said to Jesus, “I’ll go anywhere with you!” Jesus said, “Foxes have dens, and birds have nests, but the Son of Man doesn’t have a place to call his own.” Jesus told [...]

Good morning... I had the privilege of facilitating our daily devotional time during our Women's Mission Trip to Appalachia. Nestled in my temporary bed, the LORD would stir me from sleep at the exact right time. I would quietly crawl out of my bunk, trying not to wake my roommates, then make a pot of coffee before sneaking out [...]

Good morning... She sent me a beautiful handwritten letter expressing gratitude for our friendship. "We will forever be connected," was her parting line. On the bottom of the stationery lives this gorgeous quote by Rachel Naomi Remen: "Perhaps the secret of living well is not in having all the answers but in pursuing unanswerable questions in good company." With [...]

Good morning... Four-letter-words get a bad wrap. A few bad boys give the clan a bad name. If I had to choose four four-letter-words to live by, these would mine, in this exact order. Wait. Rest. Hear. Obey. Do not rush in to control. Stay still, trusting God to move. Listen, really listen, to nature, to inklings, to the [...]

Good morning... Less than six hours away from Atlanta, GA, I wake in the coal mining territory of Chavies, Kentucky. Surrounded by the grandeur of the Appalachian mountains, many hillsides are laid bare in past hopes of immediate profit. When people rape the land everything changes. The lives of these people are bonded to mine. This is the fifth [...]

Good morning... I chuckled at my fourteen year old's response to my morning question. "So what do you want for breakfast today?" As if it were printed plainly on a cardboard box, he said: "I'll have some 'daddy cereal.'" My growing son is a foot and a half taller than me, with a shoe size nearly surpassing his father's, [...]

Good morning... As we all face challenges with our loved ones, we flip open our Bible to Galatians 6. In the New International Version, verse 2 says: Carry each others' burdens... but verse 5 says, ...each one should carry their own load. Don't these directives seem to contradict? Digging beneath the surface, we uncover fresh insight. "The Greek word [...]

Good morning... He is lost, lonely, set out to sea on a life boat rather than the yacht he had always envisioned. Fearful, floundering, feeling like real life is just too hard to handle, my loved one is beyond the reach of my human arm's length. How it hurts to be powerless as an outdated rescuer. If I could, [...]

Good morning... Freeing myself from the overgrowth of unimportant, I have spent the last week thinning out, pruning back, unsubscribing from the email lists of various establishments. Office Max. Home Deposit. Bed, Bath, and Beyond. Goodbye. Goodbye. Goodbye. Weight Watchers. Michael's Craft Store. Fantasy Football News. Goodbye. Goodbye. Goodbye. Pure Barre. Dick's Sporting Goods. Blue Mountain Cards. Goodbye. Goodbye. [...]

Good morning... Several years back my kids' school played their rival football team right up the street and many in our community poured into the stands. It was a hard fought battle, back and forth, back and forth. The intensity was high, the competition thrilling. I do not remember who won the game (which means we probably lost!) but [...]