Four Magnetic Words
Good morning... Watching a news story, I pulled out a blank piece of paper and jotted down four strong words. "Hate." "Hurt." "Hope." "Heal." Coupled together, they form opposite ends of the continuum upon which our daily life teeters. Hate/Hurt..........................Hope/Heal It is important to ask ourselves, moment by moment, "Which magnetic pull is grabbing my full attention?" God’s the one who rebuilds...who regathers... He heals the heartbroken and bandages their wounds. He counts [...]
Savor Sabbath: Be Entrusting
Good morning... First Peter 2:23 sticks with me most constantly from this first week of Lenten blog posts. When [Jesus] was reviled, he did not revile in return; when he suffered, he did not threaten, but continued entrusting himself to him who judges justly. Many times in our lives stressful storms come our way, and often we cast blame for our pain on the people nearby. We want justice. We want apology. We want [...]
Who Sends Life’s Storms?
Good morning... "Why did Jesus send his disciples into the storm?" asked yesterday's dynamic devotional quoting Paul David Tripp. "He did it for the same reasons he sometimes sends you into storms - because he knows that sometimes you need the storm in order to be able to see the glory," came the quick, tidy answer. "For the believer, peace is not to be found in the ease of life. Real peace is only [...]
Life Is Not Easy
Good morning... From another state, she texted me a screen shot of a book page, sharing a dynamic devotional message from yesterday morning. She had no idea that sitting on my bedside table is the exact same daily devotional book, Paul David Tripp's New Morning Mercies. Since the words of wisdom resonate so profoundly with my faraway friend and with me, I thought you might also be touched by Tripp's rich reflection on [...]
Our Happy Ending
Good morning... As my husband was brushing his teeth yesterday morning, I walked into the bathroom and said, "Happy Ash Wednesday!" "I'm not sure those words really go together," he said. "Happy." "And Ash Wednesday." So I deepened my voice and dragged down my candescence, "Dreary and dreaded Ash Wednesday to you." Later in the day, as our staff experienced together a moving Ash Wednesday service, I walked forward for the Imposition of [...]
Our Learning This Lent
Good morning... This Ash Wednesday, we carry over some meaningful morsels of truth expressed beautifully in yesterday's post. "For Jesus, knowing God fully as he was fully known by God, Oneness with God was more than enough. For grace is clearly at work when a person accepts undeserved pain and suffering and does so because he (or she) is mindful of God (1 Peter 2:19, VOICE). As faithful God-followers across the globe, we certainly [...]
Is It Enough?
Good morning... "The key passage that I think we have to come to terms with is 1 Peter 2:23," says Pastor John in yesterday's powerful posted podcast. "When [Jesus] was reviled, he did not revile in return; when he suffered, he did not threaten, but continued entrusting himself to him who judges justly. And so my question for myself and for my friend, for anybody who finds himself like us: Is it enough for God to know [...]
A Perfect Podcast Appears
Good morning... Her dear friend quickly became her quiet enemy. She was hoping for one thing, closeness, connection, and collaboration, and she received the opposite, distance, disconnection, and disappointment. Facing a weekend she dreaded, her heart was filled with jealousy and frustration, anger and angst. This is when God dropped a perfect podcast onto her path. Feeling cared for to her core, she sent me the link, and I, too, felt deeply cared for. [...]
Savor Sabbath: Be At Home
Good morning... Our individual hearts are held at home by God as we, individually, hold God in the home our hearts. As we partner with God on the dance floor of life, we listen to the inner music and sway in sync. As she dances with God, I have been dancing beside ninety-four-year-old Betty Skinner since 2007, but right now is the first time my whole self is swept up in the crescendo [...]
Slow Dance With The Sun
Good morning... After a long, laboring string of rainy dark days, the sun peaked out to pierce the pane of our living room window. As I nestle into the corner of our couch, I close my eyes and turn my face directly into the sun. Intense light penetrates me. Illuminating warmth soothes my cheeks. My baking brain surrenders again to the Father/Son/Spirit. I turn my body away from the sun's burning stream, and [...]
We Are Whole
Good morning... Our wholeness is not measured by our looks or our feelings, our accomplishments or our bank account, our reputation or our fickle opinions. Our wholeness is rooted, established, grounded in our living LORD, who was, and is, and is to come. Secure from the beginning of time until the last breath of eternity, alive with Christ we are whole and complete. Bit by bit, might an awareness of our wholeness wake [...]
Another Part Of My Husband’s Heart
Good morning... When my husband was in college, he took a trip to Israel with a small group of students and his favorite professor. Something important awakened in Steve as he walked the steps of Jesus, read Bible stories in the places they actually occurred, and collaborated on the questions of faith brewing in his heart. Walking and talking through that holy land, God solidified in Steve Allen his call into the ministry. [...]