I stuck my feet in the sand and she buried them deeper...again. How many more ways to pass the time could we come up with in the sand volleyball court while waiting for brother's baseball game to end? I watched the leaves rustle and the tree limbs sway against the wind. Children were playing all […]
In his book, The Call, Os Guinness beautifully defines the term calling basically as this: Calling is the truth that God calls us to himself so decisively that everything we are, everything we do, and everything we have is invested with a special devotion and dynamism lived out as a response to his summons and […]
Funny isn't it? How a simple comment...or lack of comment... in an everyday conversation can stick with you like sticky bread dough on the hands. There have not been too many times that I've shyly bore my insides and let someone in to know that I..I...I want to be or am working toward being a writer […]
I was a young Christian just beginning to serve the church. I had just finished teaching my preschool Sunday School class when I saw the commotion. I went back inside my room because I knew who this child was and what was going on. I knew that she experienced seizures frequently and that her mother was used to handling them. My co-teacher, […]
Does Christmas bring out the crazy in you? Do you give what you don't normally give? Create what you don't normally create? Think about Jesus a bit more than you normally think about Jesus? Well...I was filled with a little last-minute Christmas-in-July crazy this morning. I was inspired early this morning to compile and finalize the Christmas […]
Did that title resonate with you? Does your heart long...even ache...to see and understand God's work in your life? Those who are in Christ, I believe, naturally desire that. I'm on vacation this week so...giving you an old story from the past year. It is a timeless reminder of our need to expect to see God's […]
I sit as far back as I can in the row of pews without looking too unsocial. I volunteer at a Vacation Bible School (VBS) each summer and this is the week. This year I'm saved from rigorous planning. All I have to do is show up and work in the nursery. It's painless really. But this is also […]
Do you ever need strength and courage to live just an ordinary day? Sometimes I feel like I'm washing dishes all day. Like today. I could almost promise you that I stood at the sink non-stop. I'm not complaining really. I'm thankful that I have dishes to wash because that means we had food to eat. […]
I love my country and the people who serve and have served me...us...with their lives. I join today with others with thanks to God for our freedoms and our nation. We are blessed. But I can't help to think each Fourth of July about how I feel a bit strange declaring our independence. Is it because […]
Heartbreaking mommy moment #?: "Mommy, I'm a dork." So we have a talk about words. We talk about who we most truly are. How we can believe what God says instead of what our feelings say. In the course of any given week, it is possible for me to hear many self-demeaning statements and other-demeaning statements. At each […]
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 […]