“What next?” I don’t often start my mornings with such questions on my mind. I often am startled awake before dawn and make a beeline for a programmed coffee pot stirring my senses with steaming hot goodness. My day starts with coffee and prayer. I have a typical spot to settle as I seek the…
Stopping to consider the lessons I’ve learned from my opportunities to travel, my perspective on being an American has changed. I came to realize that I thought was gratitude, was actually a form of pride. Gratitude or pride? I don’t think it was intentional, and at best it was subtle, but this sense of pride…
No matter how dark the night, despite what the future may hold, the voice that I hear whispers a tune.. right into my soul. The music is all around us. Can you hear it? In the quiet I am surrounded by the sweet sound of birds outside my window. Oblivious to the human condition these…
A dying art, the handwritten letter is slowly but surely being replaced by emails and texts. I confess, I just am as guilty of letting this age-old practice diminish in my own life; and yet, reading Paul’s letter to his young charge Timothy in my Bible, I am inspired to write a few of my…
Sometimes saying “yes” to God is the most difficult step we take in obedience. Other times it comes easily, and our response is followed by a joy-filled freedom to step out in faith. What do we do when saying yes is a struggle? “No, Lord” is not an option–it’s a contradiction; and yet, if we…
“All a man’s ways seem right in his own eyes, but the Lord weighs the motives.” Proverbs 16:2 We plan. We prepare. We shoot our visionary arrows into the future and pray they land at least somewhere near the intended target. But God. He sees. He knows where we have been and where we are…
Surrender. It’s a word that sounds defeated. Discouraged. Beaten. Surrender: verb (used without object) “to give oneself up, as into the power of another; submit or yield.” [dictionary.com] While the word may seem to carry a negative connotation, in the Christian life is a cumulative word that describes what happens when a person, 1.) recognizes…
“For a child will be born for us, a son will be given to us, and the government will be on His shoulders. He will be named Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Eternal Father, Prince of Peace.” Isaiah 9:6 “…today a Savior, who is Messiah the Lord, was born for you in the city of David. …
More than beautiful presents wrapped in paper and bows, the gift of Christmas begins with a baby in a manger, swaddled in cloth and sleeping in a manger bed. The gift of Christmas came. Heralded by angels, He entered the world He created, in a stall built for animals; all of creation crying, “Hail the…
My father turned 82 today. Two years ago we found out that he was in Stage 4 kidney failure, and he quickly progressed to end-stage, requiring dialysis to survive. While the damage done to his body cannot be reversed, being hooked up to a machine to rid his body of the toxins has prolonged his…
“…it’s the most wonderful time of the year!” In many ways, Christmas in America begins the day after Thanksgiving. We have barely put away the leftover turkey before our thoughts turn to shopping, Christmas trees and party planning. What should be a time of reflection and continued thanksgiving, turns to hurried accomplishments to be checked…
I am the thorn in His crown. The splinter in His thumb. That tag that is constantly rubbing, and the child that seems to always be whining. And He loves me anyway. I was talking to a young woman recently who had been processing the gospel message: We have all sinned against a Holy God.…
What if I let go? Of my pride. Of my sin. Of my selfishness. “How happy is the one whose transgression is forgiven.” What if I let go? Of fear, of failure, of the future. “You are my hiding place, You protect me from trouble. You surround me with joyful shouts of deliverance.”
I wake up early and hear the sounds of the night orchestrating a beautiful transition to morning. The night owls and the crickets quiet as the songbirds take over in a rhythmic chant that almost sounds as if they are saying, “wake up! wake up!”. On a cool, crisp fall morning the dried leaves fall…
I woke up to a new reality. A sobering thought. A haunting question: What if? What if the passion I have is misguided? What if my thoughts–my desires are not from Him? Does this passion that I have honor the One I have declared to be my Lord? The One True God. The Maker of…
