Peace on Earth
Never thought I’d see the day. Not in my lifetime. Just heard from a friend that an organization for which she works will never “make it” in a particular community because her organization employs devoted Christians in high positions, though it’s not a Christian organization, though it serves people of all faiths and all […]
Massacres and Scepters
Your attitude should be the same as that of Christ Jesus: Who, being in very nature God, did not consider equality with God something to be grasped, but made himself nothing, taking the very nature of a servant, being made in human likeness. And being found in appearance as a man, he humbled himself and […]
Slaying That Dragon—Again
Sometimes the dragon you thought died—the one you thought you slayed with God’s word and your heaving, desperate prayers and every other right thing you knew to do at the time? Sometimes that dragon comes back from the abyss as if it had never died and been buried. One day, you turn and there you […]
Walking by Faith
So we are always of good courage. We know that while we are at home in the body we are away from the Lord, for we walk by faith, not by sight. 2 Corinthians 5:6 Walked out to the barn to grain the horses around 9 PM last night, unusually late. Though the moon was […]
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. […]
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 […]
Hush!
“Our lives begin to end the day we become silent about things that matter.” Martin Luther King Jr. Killed. For having courage. To speak truth. About things that matter. The tower is tilting in Puerto Morelos. Built with ancient pyramid ruins. Set in shifting sand. Still standing. But what good is it? It has no […]
Words That Fail Us, Words That Heal Us
When I met Laura Peterson for the first time at a writing workshop in Alaska, I knew we would become good friends. She is warm, funny, positive, loves her husband and their two daughters with abandon and she talks really, really fast. But she can slow. When she reads or hears something touching, she tears easily, which makes her […]
When You Feel Like The Edges Of Your Life Are Crumbling And You Need Solid Anchors
I stood on the edge of a cliff wondering whether the rock would hold me if I ventured too far to the edge. From my high vantage point, I could see the vast array of autumn colors and the large lake down below—Devil’s Lake. I saw men and women with ropes anchored in rock, thrown […]
For When You Feel Like A Failure: Kingdom Economics 101
At 3:10 PM, he clomped up those steps to the library, not with his usual enthusiasm. He plopped down in the yellow chair, right by our second-story fireplace, right across from my light blue Lazy Boy where I sit reading, waiting for him. I sensed him. Something was wrong. ”Hi! How was your day?” “Not […]
A Courage Undaunted
Ever felt on edge? Ever come to the edge of yourself? Ever pushed your edges—the places you’re not sure you can go, doing things you’re not sure you can do? Takes courage. Undaunted courage. In 1803, Meriwether Lewis was trained for the Corps of Discovery, commonly referred to as the Lewis and Clark Expedition, by […]