Shedding Our Vending Machine Mentality
Good afternoon... I got home late from a fun Bunko Night with friends, hence the time of this midday post. "I just read a research article today," said a friend at the party. "This study found that 68% of all cancer is random, that means only 32% can be attributed to poor lifestyle choices." Random. Wired to crave control, predictability, clear cause and effect, most of us do not like the word "random." Even [...]
Feeling Life Live On
Good morning... "Telling my boys that their mom had gone to heaven Sunday was the hardest thing I've ever had to do in this life," wrote Chad on Julie's Caring Bridge page yesterday, "but they, like me, cling to the peace and comfort that they will see their mom again and get to be reunited with her in heaven. Charlie, who is almost 11, spoke to me through tears last night as he went [...]
Texting Hand In Hand
Good morning... I am grateful for technology, for the ability to communicate with loved ones near and far. I will keep forever the beautiful string of texts Julie Harlan and I shared privately over the final thirty-eight days of her life. I scroll through the eighty-five text messages exchanged and I smile, so grateful for my friend. Some texts are one word. "Beautiful." "Awesome." "Thanks." Others are short sentences of encouragement. "Praying for you [...]
Forever With Us
Good morning... In my message yesterday morning, I honored my faithful friend Julie Harlan and by mid afternoon I got word that Julie had passed on to heaven. Her husband's words posted earlier this week have met their sequel. Chad wrote on Julie's CaringBridge page, "EVERYONE wonders how this rare form of cancer could happen to a healthy, fit, selfless, God-loving, awesome 41yr old mother and wife (with zero cancer history in her family [...]
The Holy Spirit Speaks Through Us
Good morning... When I shared lunch with my longtime friend Julie Harlan on Thursday, February 16th, the word "cancer" did not enter our meaningful conversation. The next Tuesday she had her annoying symptoms of reflux checked out medically, and by Thursday she was given a shocking diagnosis. Stomach cancer. On Saturday when I visited her at home to listen, talk, and pray, she had already set her sights on the positive power of biblical [...]
Transform My Desires
Good morning... "Please transform my desires," I hear my deepest self say. "Please transform my desires into Your desires." I desire love. I desire power. I desire beauty. I desire wealth. I desire comfort. "LORD, help me to rest in Your love, Your power, Your beauty, Your wealth, Your comfort. Gradually surrendering more of me to more of You, my personal desires are being transformed into Your life-giving desires." You, my God, gently respond: [...]
Pray For Intense Desire
Good morning... Betty Skinner walked slowly from the rugged valley of clinical depression up toward the mountaintop of joyful oneness with God. How did she do it? Betty took one healing step at a time. Solitude. Silence. Contemplative prayer. Eating well. Journaling thoughts. Creating art and poetry. Focusing on life's positives. Talking honestly with others. Enjoying long walks outside learning from nature. Studying the wisdom of Christian mystics. Mentoring other Jesus-followers. Surrendering her whole [...]
“STOP THAT” Spray
Good morning... Did I tell you that in January God brought a dog walker-whisperer into our Tuesday afternoon Bible study? Let me paint you the picture. We got our 8-week old puppy last June from Adopt-a-Golden Rescue and, when I began hosting daily classes in my home in September, Tate's puppy-ness was full-blown. She was an all-out-crazy bundle of boundless energy. Bad behavior littered my living room. Jumping on guests. Chewing corners of couches [...]
Hang On! Enjoy The Positive
Good morning... "Beautiful young people are accidents of nature," said Eleanor Roosevelt. "But beautiful old people are works of art." Last week, I shared my birthday lunch with beautiful 91 year old Betty Skinner. She truly is a work of art. Kitty Crenshaw and Dr. Cathy Snapp, authors of The Hidden Life Awakened, the book chronicling Betty's extraordinary life, also slid into the restaurant booth in Ponte Vedra, Florida. As we marveled together at [...]
Truly Loving And Being Loved
Good morning... In a memorable service, we honored his life. A father and a grandfather. A coach and a mentor. A friend and a legend. His full-bodied life we honored wholeheartedly. At the reception afterward, I quietly browsed the table of memorabilia. Awards and pictures. Boyhood smile to doting dad to grinning grandad. Snapshot after snapshot captured his unique way of truly loving and being loved. Then my eyes rested on the quote handwritten [...]
“Should”s Silence
Good morning... We self-published our first book in 2004, my artist friend and me. Our book, Scribbling a Masterpiece: Doodle to Your Destiny, took a poem I had written when I was in my twenties and married it with her colorfully creative drawings, drawings which captured the essence of God's truth. On the back of our book, we shared one of my first poems, "Should"s Silence. The poem begs this question: "Do I have [...]
Don’t “Should” On Yourself
Good morning... I had heard the phrase before, but I chuckled when she said it in a casual conversation. "Don't 'should' on yourself." I "should" do this. I "should" not do that. I "should" say this. I "should" not say that. I "should" think this. I "should' not think that. We "should" on ourselves all the time. Other people also "should" on us regularly. We draw imaginary lines all around our lives, boxing ourselves [...]