Glory Hunting
I wake to the the sun streaming on my side of our bed. A new day. My first thoughts? A prayer formed from words in Lamentations about hope in the midst of affliction. Oh God, because of Your great love we are not consumed, for your compassions never fail. They are new every morning. Great […]
Holding Joy in the Contrasts of Life
Hiking through the intense Arizona desert a couple weeks ago, my eye was drawn to the long-faced shadows cast by sun without even a wisp of filtering cloud. I noticed how shadows created depth and accentuated beauty of the agave, the prickly pear, the saguaro. Light. Dark. Contrasts. I thought about years past when I […]
Arizona Jesus
In Wisconsin, where I live, we never contend with intense sun and dry. Not like where I walked yesterday. At least not on the outside. We all have known some extremes on the inside, haven’t we? Where we feel the force of something much larger than we can control looming, beating down on us hard. […]
The Power of Three
Three deaths. Three funerals. Three weeks. A trinity of holy. 35 years old. Husband. Father of three. Killed in a car crash. 62 years old. Friend. Sister of one of my best friends. Heart attack. 88 years old. Ministry partner for years. So how can such suffering, so close together, be holy? All are grieving, […]
Empty? Full? Which Do You Want?
The build up to Easter is over. His death. His resurrection. His leaving the tomb. The empty tomb. The reason for rejoicing. And yet, we still deal with empty. Don’t we? We’re constantly running around trying to fill ourselves up. Aren’t we? Power. Acceptance. Comfort. Control. We all know EMPTY, don’t we? Alive […]
Terrier Terror and What We Have In Common With Dogs
Instinct. That’s what it is—the reason why our little terrier pup scared me by running off into the wild blue yonder after that rabbit. Downright ignored the red bell. And the shaking salami container. Why? Because Baker just had to. Because that’s what dogs do. They follow their nose. Instinct. That’s what drives us all, […]
A FAREWELL FOR JO (AND THE HOPE FOR US ALL)
My dear friend Nancy, my neighbor, lost her sister Jo Monday night. 62 years old. Vibrant wife, mother, grandmother, sister, friend. Heart attack. Alive in the morning. Gone by night. There’s agony here around this farm, this Holy Week, as we march to Maundy Thursday, the day our Lord wept in a garden as he […]
Wait a Minute!
I worked out hard yesterday because soon I’ll have to shimmy into my shorts. Time to shred the winter belly I swear looks like it was inflated with a tire pump. So I started the DVD. Thought I might die, right there on the family room floor. There was this trainer on the screen, her […]
Why You Need to Change Your Point of View
The familiar brown truck rolls up our farm’s gravel drive and the man who loves to play tug with our rambunctious yellow lab hands her a biscuit before handing me my box. She jumps and nearly gets him in the face with her enthusiastic expectation and her wet tongue. Yeah, and so it goes. We […]
Some Scenes of the Seen
She gave this name to the LORD who spoke to her: “You are the God who sees me,” for she said, “Truly here I have seen him who looks after me.” Genesis 16:13-14 SCENE ONE: It goes like this . . . Years ago I sat on the kitchen floor in front of an […]
What To Do With A Snafu
I am experiencing a royal snafu involving my doctor’s office, my pharmacy and my insurance company which has kept me from getting the medication dosage I need for four days. You see, I diagnosed myself years ago and my physician confirmed. I have GAD—Generalized Anxiety Disorder. Medication helps. I also have had a couple major […]
Driving Home
What has happened to me has really served to advance the gospel. Philippians 1:12 Driving home in the dark last night, angled arrows of head-lighted sleet pelted my windshield, hypnotizing. Wipers on high could not keep up. White-knuckled fingers gripped the steering wheel and my whole body leaned forward, concentrating, praying . . . Please […]