Does anyone else out there have a flighty brain? Do you feel that it is on the run and you can hardly catch it...for me...sometimes I can hardly find it! The apostle Paul says, "Do not conform any longer to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then […]
Tired Convicted Needing Wanting Hoping Longing Humbled Turning... to the high and lofty one who lives in a high and holy place... but also with those who are contrite and lowly in spirit. "You are the high and lofty One, who inhabits eternity, whose name is holy. You live in a high and holy place […]
I ironed his clothes. I ironed theirs. I ironed mine. I made breakfast, skipped the shower, dressed and fed the little people in the house and pulled together a snack for a hungry crowd of fellowshippers. I planned Sunday School, read over the sermon and encouraged him. I got up REAL early but I was STILL behind. I had caused […]
“Any fool can be happy. It takes a man with real heart to make beauty out of the stuff that makes us weep.” - Clive Barker, Days of Magic Nights of War We should say...it takes a real woman to do that too... And that real man or woman's heart is first tranformed by Jesus […]
She jumps into the car beaming to be going to her friend's house for the first time in a month. Red dress and purple leggings bursting with cuteness. I...looking forward to much needed one on one time on the riverfront with the boy. Reading books and waiting for trains. A promise he had looked forward […]
Why do we think in years in terms of starting fresh? Why do we wait...sometimes...to start anew? I ask this question without having an answer. I'm just finding that I'd prefer to live in a way that thinks of each new day as a fresh start...as fresh as a new year. Lamentations 3:22-23 "The steadfast love […]
Vasari, Giorgio, The Nativity, c. 1546 Through the incarnation, we are able to see clearly, the Son of God, as our King. And I suppose we should say He has always been King. But the incarnation shows us our King in the flesh and allows us to hear others proclaim it and Himself proclaim it. […]
Tiepolo, Giovanni Battista, Nativity, 1732 Acts 2:22-23, 32-33, 36-38 22 “Men of Israel, hear these words: Jesus of Nazareth, a man attested to you by God with mighty works and wonders and signs that God did through him in your midst, as you yourselves know— 23 this Jesus,delivered up according to the definite plan […]
Pierre, Jean-Baptiste-Marie, Nativity Romans 9:3-5 “3. For I could wish that I myself were accursed and cut off from Christ for the sake of my brothers, my kinsmen according to the flesh. 4 They are Israelites, and to them belong the adoption, the glory, the covenants, the giving of the law, the worship, and the […]
Previtali, Andrea, Nativity, 1515-20 1 John 4:1-6 “4 Beloved, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits to see whether they are from God, for many false prophets have gone out into the world. 2 By this you know the Spirit of God: every spirit that confesses that Jesus Christ has come in the […]
Advent Joy isn’t shallow or sentimental—it is rooted in the appearing of Christ. When Scripture speaks of Christ being manifested, it means that God has made Himself clearly seen, known, and encountered in order to save. “The grace of God has appeared, bringing salvation…” — Titus 2:11, ESV The Child in the manger is the […]
Where do you long for Christ’s Peace to enter your story this week? Or have you given up hope for that? Perhaps it would be good for you and me to remember Jesus' words about the kind of peace He gives. "Peace I leave with you; my peace I give to you. Not as the […]