My dad had a poster near his desk with a Raggedy Ann doll bring squeezed through a wringer. (If you know who and what I am talking about feel free to skip the next paragraph! If you don’t know, the internet will tell you more than you ever wanted to Read more…
“Sometimes fault lines can only be identified and mapped after an earthquake.” —40 Days of Decrease, Alicia Britt Chole That’s why failure is such an important thing to not be protected from. (She says from her ivory tower…) We often ask God to bless our event, activity, or adventure, expecting Read more…
Elijah had his dark days. David pretended he was crazy. Jesus wept in sorrow over His own suffering and what He saw was coming for Jerusalem. I guess that means I’m in pretty good company…though I do not claim to breathe the rarified air of these faith-famous ones. If you Read more…
This classic pun has been used by comedians since the 1930’s, since our English word “way” refers both to direction and to manner. It’s great comic fodder, as well as a vehicle for understanding how we are to live our lives as Jesus-followers. I have an unusual way of washing Read more…
Today’s to-to list is enormous and overwhelming… like normal. This morning’s verse from a dear friend was this: “Whatever you do, do your work heartily as to the Lord, and not to men…” – Colossians 3:23 I can hear my children’s groans (along with the strains of a march-like tune Read more…
My grapevines look very sad. And they are teaching me a thing or two, as usual, about God’s pruning. Thanks to the recovery time dictated by a complete knee replacement, they have mostly not yet been pruned. Care for grapevines (if what you are after is fruit) means reduction of Read more…
Regrets. We all have them. I should have bought this when it was on special. I shouldn’t have spoken to my child that way. I should have made a better choice of…anything. I could have had a V-8! Regrets are the subject of today’s fast on my Lenten journey (started Read more…
Phil Wickham’s Hymn of Heaven contains the line, “stand beside the heroes of the faith.” Usually that makes me think of the list of notables in Hebrews 11, those who paved the way of faith for us by being utterly everyday humans who were granted unique opportunity to hold on Read more…
Sometimes my thoughts are like a skittish school of herring, flashing this way and that at the least provocation. I found myself asking God to settle them, or herd them into His net. Is it on the right side of the boat or the left? It isn’t always that He gives Read more…
Usually when we say “everyday,” we mean common, ordinary, run-of-the-mill, and that is certainly what I intend when I talk about following Jesus in the everyday: dishes, laundry, gardening, family relationships, church stuff. When Jesus was introducing His hearers to the Kingdom of God the way God sees it, He Read more…