No, I am not aiming at the extra pounds around my middle, but at what the Amplified Bible calls encumbrance. (Not everything that gets in the way of following Jesus is sin.) I am weary this morning, and a bit achy. A mountain of work awaits me, with no end in Read more
I am not talking about the choice to forgive. There are plenty of voices calling us to forgive…the Holy Spirit, our consciences, Christian writers; even people with no connection to God know that hanging on to bitterness when offended is not a good plan: ulcers, high blood pressure, adrenal fatigue. Read more
The message was addressed to the students I help to mentor, but I am consistently listening for what God has for me. The book was Ephesians. The challenge was to stretch our faith by letting go of something and taking hold of its replacement, by the power only God can Read more
I have had the most disappointing garden season ever (and in our part of the country, winter is prime gardening time)! Most of my carefully tended, pre-sprouted seedlings got eaten by snails, birds or a rat. The few that remained have not been productive or sturdy. Only the radishes flourished, Read more
This morning I am especially thankful that Papa-God sent His Son in such an accessible package. it seems that this extended Christmas season has been more full of personal worship and adoration than any for a number of years. Especially now, with a new president, it is significant to place Read more
Just because the calendar says it’s mid-January does not mean I am done with Christmas! It’s not just because the beautiful decorations will have to be put away. I didn’t put out much of the knick-knackery I have. My decorating was simple and very purposeful this year. I wanted to Read more
I discovered this morning that I have been writing 2020 on my journal entries for a whole week! “Understandable,” you say, “It happens to people every year.” Perhaps…but I have also written DECEMBER!!! This is a picture of how life has felt: “Groundhog Day”…over and over, the same day, full Read more
When I think of a plan, it might be a blueprint for an addition to my parents’ house, it might be a calendar grid populated with menu ideas, it might be a flow-chart for ministry processes…but these things are all comprehensible, human-brain-sized, linear, and chronologically time-oriented. Recently, I have been Read more
Some humans are innately organized…and then there’s me. And my life is full of things that change, shift and move without consulting me. The nerve! My weekly calendar is a large presentation board populated with sticky notes…because they often need to be rearranged. Family emergencies, household disasters, memory failures, car Read more
Following Jesus every day in the everyday is sometimes a glorified housekeeping job… There are enough different uses of the word “house” in Scripture that when, as a New Testament believer, I encounter Old Testament passages about God’s house, I have to ask the Holy Spirit for understanding about what Read more