It was a land barren, desolate, nearly without life…needing comfort. Many places that could be described as desolate are at least beautiful, colorful, or interesting. This was a waste-land: flat, sparse, featureless, dry, dull-looking. This was a place we just wanted to get through as we traveled over 4500 miles Read more…
I have been sitting in the post-resurrection passages during this time of year known as Eastertide. (Thanks to the folks at Lectio365.) Today we were in John 21:15-19. One of the things that caught my eye was the way John see-saws between the two identities of the fearful, forceful, flaky Read more…
Wow. It’s been a minute! Since my last post I have directed a five-day vacation Bible school drama with a teen cast, thrown a cast party, traveled 3600 miles in a pickup truck (a fancy new hybrid one), sewn a bridal veil, danced at a wedding in a vintage Art Read more…
God is in the middle of granting one of the desires of my heart, I am in the middle of a recovering from a shoulder replacement…a surgically induced five-weeks-in-a-sling sabbatical. One of the things that usually happens on a sabbatical is that normal income-producing work is suspended. I don’t have Read more…
I have chickens. Hens, but no roosters. That means that they lay eggs that will never hatch into chicks. It got me thinking about fruitfulness. . . I wonder if they produce those beautiful, extra large, brown speckled eggs expecting them to hatch. I wonder if they are disappointed when Read more…
The bugs are dead. My shelves are empty. Many things are washed, dried and put away. A small pickup load has been taken to a local charity. The process of letting go of things I don’t need, want, or love is going to be a long one. Most of my Read more…
When we have an invasion, plague, or onslaught of (unwelcome) critters, it usually doesn’t take long for me to start asking, “Okay, God. What are You after?” (If you’ve been following me for a while, this is not unfamiliar territory. If you haven’t, this is part of following Jesus in Read more…
So…It’s kind of like crabgrass. It starts out soft and bright green. It feels good on bare feet, the chickens enjoy grazing on it and it is a welcome sight after the brown of winter. And then it happens: Seed stalks begin to grow. Not just upright, they lay down Read more…
Sitting in my recently restored quiet space, I saw my little flock of chickens pecking at the greens whose abundant leaves lean against the garden fence. They love the greens, and their beaks don’t reach very far. It’s a reasonable arrangement. A few days ago, however, the fence was left Read more…
If you had known me, you would have known my Father also. From now on you do know him and have seen him.” Philip said to him, “Lord, show us the Father, and it is enough for us.” Jesus said to him, “Have I been with you so long, and Read more…