Good morning... Chaos. We hate the word. We hate the experience. We hate her synonyms. Disarray. Jumble. Turmoil. We love her antonyms. Order. Peace. Calm. Yet one line from one book has stayed with me for twenty five years. "Identity is born out of chaos," penned Sue Bender in her 1991 book, Plain and Simple. What does Bender mean? [...]
Good morning... When darkness was upon the face of the deep (Genesis 1:2), one Hebrew word sums up the atmosphere into which God spoke the first light. "Tohu." English words resembling "tohu" describe an experience familiar to many of us. Confusion. Emptiness. Formlessness. Complete chaos. "Tohu's" primeval disorder precedes God's creative activity. Always has. Always will. A trying time [...]
Good morning... How fun it is for my fingertips to listen for the LORD's movement in the early morning hours. As hurricane Hermine exposes the vulnerability of Florida's Gulf Coast, God's winds now blow us back to the start of it all. In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth. Now the earth was formless and empty, [...]
Good morning... As I drove to fitness class at the church, a chorus resurfaced from our years of leading youth group in Gettysburg, PA. "Here I am LORD. Is it I LORD? I have heard You calling in the night. I will go LORD if You lead me. I will hold Your people in my heart." Amid planks and [...]
Good morning... "I waken this morning as one being taught." This sentence coaxes me to awareness from my sleeping state. Next a prayer dawns, "LORD, give us a teachable spirit." As we hone the art of early morning listening, LORD, help us to crave the wisdom You teach. Poet Elizabeth Barrett Browning then breaks into my consciousness, adding her [...]
Good morning... This Memorial Day morn, I think of my grandparent's generation, a generation which was heavy laden with the effects of war. Just yesterday, I was reading one of my old journals entries dated August 27, 2005. Back then I wrote these words. "I'm drawn to the note attached to the quilt that covers the old oak rocker [...]
Good morning... Regrets ruin. The unsaid undermines. When the moment is lost, so is the opportunity. As spring fades to summer, my unsaid regrets linger. I have lost an opportunity. I feel convicted to say "I am sorry" for two things this spring. First, in March, I went on two spring break trips back to back. One week to [...]
Good morning... Thanks to a friend of a friend, who is an intake worker at a dog rescue organization, we patiently found our way to our next family member. We are still settling on a name as this eight week old golden retriever/yellow lab pup settles into our home. I have not cared for a puppy or a baby [...]
Good morning... Spring is tipping into summer everywhere I look. The pruned back branches of winter gave way to small leafy buds this spring, and now those same trees are exploding with green growth. I watched my neighbors' lawn guys dig up still beautiful pansies yesterday. Purple and white flowers remaining poised atop thinning, scrawny stems. A few weekends [...]
Good morning... Jesus promises, "...in Me you may have [perfect] peace. In the world you have tribulation and distress and suffering, but be courageous [be confident, be undaunted, be filled with joy]; I have overcome the world.” [My conquest is accomplished, My victory abiding.]" (John 16:33, AMP). As I read this passage, one word sparkles in a brand new [...]
