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…
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…
I do not write because I myself have something to offer, but because all I have is the One who is always Who we need. I have nothing but Jesus. Following Him today, in a time of pain and loss, means I hold on to the only thing that does Read more…
On the twelfth day of Christmas my True Love gave to me… twelve gates of heaven! This twelfth gift is one that bears more consideration that we tend to give it, unless someone dear to us is at the brink of death. Heaven! The place where no one cries or 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 ninth day of Christmas my True Love gave to me…nine fruit of the Spirit. Love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control: the nine-flavored fruit is fragrant evidence of the presence and work of the God’s own Spirit in our lives. It describes a living still-life Read more…
It all started with some bad housekeeping… I had bought some sweet potatoes that somehow never made it to the table. Instead they languished in the cupboard, waiting to be used, enjoyed for the purpose for which they were grown. The days grew longer, and the sweet orange roots began Read more…
Jesus offers us rest… rest from the crazy-making struggle of having to be good enough; rest from the dizzying effort of understanding why anything; rest from the air-sucking pressure of maintaining our “composure.” Jesus offers us company… delighting in our presence; responding to our conversation; walking with us everywhere. Jesus Read more…