Good morning... “I know you lost a beloved tree to Irma,” she kindly wrote in her email. “I hope any other losses are minimal.” Our old, sturdy tree toppled in the high, drenching winds. I never thought of a fallen tree as a key loss until my fingers and my keyboard formed my tender response. “We did lose our [...]
Good morning... "Hoping high tide doesn't bring the river into our living room," a friend texted from Jacksonville, Florida as Hurricane Irma slammed her state. "Please pray that the water recedes and we don't see the predicted 4-6 foot surge. Thank you." I lifted prayers all day and was grateful for her final message. "Waters came up to the [...]
Good morning... We wake to the rubble of another 9/11. Wet, windy, weepy. Rubble again. Be lifted by Chris Tomlin's 9/11 music video as God rains mercy on us all. I lift up my eyes to the mountains— where does my help come from? My help comes from the Lord, the Maker of heaven and earth (Psalm 121:1-2, NIV). Today [...]
Good morning... Powerful. Widespread. Catastrophic. Explosive words wake the morning news. Loss of power. Devastation closes in. The damage is really just beginning. What do we do when we face the inevitable pain of powerlessness, intense darkness, lights out on the life we love? We open our Bible to experience the promises of Isaiah 58:10-12 expressed in the Message [...]
Good morning... My friend and her family took their cancer-filled dog to the vet, 'putting her down' so they say. "It was peaceful and quiet," she texted soon after. "She just went to sleep. Thank you, Sue. Your comfort helped me prepare for those steps." Connecting soul to soul in the midst of our daily lives, we experience God's quiet, [...]
Good morning... A few weeks back, I woke to a painful text. "So sorry to have been so out of pocket. So very much going on. However, tonight I am sitting here with sweet Tess. Just have not been able to talk about it since hearing last week. She if full of cancer. I saw a friend who is [...]
Good morning... "He looked up from his coffee, fixing me with one eye, the other squinted like Clint Eastwood. "There's somethin I heard 'bout white folks that bothers me, and it has to do with fishin." He was serious and I didn't dare laugh, but I did try to lighten the mood a bit. "I don't know if I'll [...]
Good morning... "If you extend your soul to the hungry," she said, "and satisfy the afflicted soul, then your light will dawn in the darkness and your darkness shall be as the noonday." From Colorado to Atlanta, the slow, soothing voice of my spiritual direction supervisor reached me through the phone, giving me the gift of Isaiah 58:10 (NKJV). God's [...]
Good morning... The phone rang around 5:20 am, "Mom, I think you should go back to sharing your complete blog in your morning email rather than forcing us to click 'Read more' to receive the entire message." Our oldest son called to encourage me from Australia, where he is spending his year ministering to college students. With a 14 [...]
Good morning... The whole room pulled off a great surprise as we celebrated a milestone birthday with our friend. Nearing the meal's end, she spoke words of raw, real thanks and owned with her eloquent voice an inspiring poem she had discovered just that day. "The second half of my life will be black to the white rind of [...]
