It had been a terrible morning. I had not dealt well with a child in the throes of the “terrible twos.” I had gotten very angry, lost control, been very harsh…violent, even. My intention had been to attend a gathering were my guilty, angry, wounded heart was fed truth and Read more…
Seek first His kingdom and His righteousness, and all these will be yours as well. -Matthew 6:33 Thanks to countless church services and Bible studies (and my personal study), I have a lot of really great ideas about God, but my own functional thoughts about Him, how I relate to Read more…
My verse for 2019 is familiar “Seek first His kingdom and His righteousness, and all these things shall be yours as well.” (Matthew 6:33 ) Easy to quote. Hard to practice. As I explore this verse, I discover places in my life that are still my territory, rather than the Read more…
When the inevitable round of new-year-new-you articles and advertisements come out, my inbox fills with guilt-inducing, wishful-thinking, low-monthly-payment plans for transformation. Jesus has His own plan for change. He started His earthly ministry with the message: “change your thinking.” This is much more slippery to grasp than a five-step plan Read more…
Following Jesus in the everyday means living a life characterized by faith. Guys like Abraham demonstrated their confidence in what God says by packing up and leaving their homeland. I haven’t been asked to do that…at least not yet, but I have been invited to declare my citizenship in a Read more…
On the tenth day of Christmas my True Love gave to me… ten filled commandments. The Ten Commandments, the foundation of every just system of law, represents how God wants to be treated and how that treatment works itself out in our flesh-and-blood relationships. Jesus taught that God’s intent for Read more…
On the seventh day of Christmas my True Love gave to me…the seven-fold Spirit. Of all the gifts given us by our True Love, this one is the most intimate! This is the one that makes “Emmanuel” mean something! “God With Us” becomes “God Within Us” because of this gift: Read more…
Explore with me what Jesus meant when He said, “He who has seen me has seen the Father.” Hebrews tells us that He is the radiance of God’s glory, the exact representation of His nature. He is the image of the invisible God, according to Colossians. John tells us: “No Read more…
All I said was one word. Her name. All the syllables of it. Sharply. She crumpled into tears. I had no good reason to speak so sharply. What she had done was not rebellious or unkind, not intended to offend. It was just an error…a mistake. What boiled over and Read more…
I just spilled coffee on the chair and rug in my office trying to intercept a moth. Moving things to deal with the spill, I discovered a new place on the rug where the moth larvae have been feasting. The only way I know to deal with them, aside from Read more…