When We Feel Shipwrecked
Good morning... Today, I could write about football, yesterday's rainy day off school, or our daughter's safe return from Australia with her tattered, three-wheeled suitcase. This morning, I could write about our finicky coffee pot, this week's beginning of our new class semester, or the strengthening pull of God's call upon my life. Right now, I could write about grief, aging bodies, family and friends, or the grief accompanying the aging of our bodies [...]
Making Peace Not War
Good morning... "Amen and amen," she wrote after yesterday's post, God's Peace Is Louder Than Bombs. She continued: "After a year of what has felt like bombs in our world order, I’m wondering if God’s faithful are digging in closer to Him (breathing deeply) and exhaling more of His goodness, grace, peace, and light. Let’s make this the year of being the hope the world needs by breathing in and out more God." Again [...]
God’s Peace Is Louder Than Bombs
Good morning... She texted me this poem as she lay in bed following surgery. I sense deep peace gathering strength, within and around her. ****** Amazing Peace by Maya Angelou It is the Glad Season. Hope is born again in the faces of children. It rides on the shoulders of our aged as they walk into their sunsets. Hope spreads around the earth. Brightening all things, even hate which crouches breeding in dark corridors. In [...]
Let Your Life Speak
Good morning... "I must listen to my life and try to understand what it is truly about - quite apart from what I would like it to be about - or my life will never represent anything real in the world, no matter how earnest my intentions," writes Parker Palmer, author of the book we will be digesting and discussing in my living room this semester. Parker continues: "That insight is hidden in the [...]
God’s Word Lights Our Path
Good morning... As I wake, an old song wells up within my soul and I marinate in a tried, true favorite performed live in 2007. Though I do not know what language is being translated in this YouTube video, I love the foreign subtitles and the clearly-moved crowd visually reminding me: God's Word lights the path for every person born to earth. Enjoy this beautiful blast from our past, harmonizing today and every day, [...]
All Is Well – Eventually
Good morning... Waking to frigid temperatures, she playfully texted me after yesterday's post, "Heaven may be better than Hawaii, but I wouldn't mind going to Hawaii now..." (three smiley, sunglassed emoji faces). "Agreed. Do you know Messiah and his family?" I asked because my friend has close ties to our cancer community. "No, I don't," she answered. "I was joking because I only read the title of your message. I just read your post [...]
Direct Or Reflect?
Good morning... A prayer grows roots deep in my soul. "LORD, You are the Director. Help me be a clear reflector." I envision a still lake reflecting the pink-purple pastels painted by the rising sun and the old oak trees silhouetted by the same sun as it sets. The more still the water, the more clear the moving reflection. I rest with the lake, remaining still while God moves. "As we take seriously Scripture's [...]
Heaven Is Better Than Hawaii
Good morning... Throughout this Christmas season, a small group of us have been praying for a boy with cancer named Messiah. "My Make A Wish child, Messiah, passed away this morning," our friend texted us midday, completely brokenhearted. "We didn't have time to fulfill his wish of going to Hawaii. Life is so short and precious." "I'm so sorry, you are so right about life being short," one friend texted back. "I am sorry [...]
From “I Want” To “You Want”
Good morning... After yesterday's post, I pondered all day, "What is my 'one thing'?" What is the 'one thing' I cling to that shrinks heavens treasures while I walk this earth? My fear of pain. My love of comfort. My desire to get what I want when I want it. "LORD, is there really only 'one thing' I lack?" As I woke this morning in my cozy bed I felt a shift in my [...]
My Deep Prayer For Us
Good morning… I accidentally ran into a Bible verse I have never before met. This blessing is tucked away in Jude, the easily-missed, two-page book of the Bible appearing just before Revelation. This sentence sums up my deep prayer for each of us, as we tiptoe slowly into a brand new year. May mercy and peace and love be multiplied to you [filling your heart with the spiritual well-being and serenity experienced by those [...]
One Life-Altering Prayer
Good morning... As we walk away from what has been and step toward what will be, she sent me a beautiful prayer written by Leighton Ford, a mentor for emerging Christian leaders from across the globe. ****** Lord, give me I pray: A remembering heart for the things that have happened An attentive heart to what I have learned A forgiving heart for what has hurt A grateful heart for what has blessed A [...]
God’s Plans Work Out
Good morning... Life dishes out tons of trouble and some of us are served a high, heaping helping. Troubles come in many forms: short-lived or long-lasting, self-inflicted or unexpected, collectively experienced or randomly singled out. For some of us, troubles are fueled by our inner critic: "I can't believe you said that. Did that. Messed up. Again." For others, troubles attack us like an outside enemy: crime or cancer, conflict or calamity. We are blindsided. [...]