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 […]
Sudden Storm
Then they cried out to the LORD in their trouble, and he brought them out of their distress. He stilled the storm to a whisper. Psalm 107:28-29 The weather was near perfect all day Sunday. Sunny blue skies dappled with puffy white clouds. Early evening, we were enjoying an al fresco dinner on our […]
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 […]
Hurried and Empty
I scramble out the door carrying too much at once. Managing to get into the car without spilling self-brewed Starbucks all over me, I realize I forgot the keys. I set my coffee mug in the holder and throw everything else onto the passenger seat. Run in. Get keys. Run out. Sit down. Close door. […]
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, […]
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 […]
Christmas Joy in the Splash of a Cross
Two days before Christmas, I pull my hiking boots on and crisscross the laces, tying tightly. Misted sky is cold, dripping. No wished-for snow. I choose a different path today, the one to the east. Normally, I head west but the evergreens in the forest look so lovely in the mist. I will start there. As […]
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 […]
Some Thoughts on Dying When You Feel Like It and the Hope That Stops You
It is late September. The sugar maple is tinged with fire, a burning mix of orange and red and yellow, engulfing the green. Honking Vs of geese fly over the barn. One yellowed leaf curls on the grass. Three Sandhill cranes lift off alfalfa field, warbling their way into the air, a trinity created by […]
Prickly Pear
Even prickly pears bloom. My mother passed away in the dark of the night, just a few hours after Mother’s Day ended. Thirteen years ago, this year. I talked to her early on Mother’s Day. She was so excited about the bouquet of red carnations I ordered and sent the day before. I had told […]
Finding Our Treasure
A.W. Tozer’s books in my library have more lines highlighted than not, so beautiful and true are his writings. Here is a choice morsel for your weekend meditation from The Pursuit of God . . . The man who has God for his treasure has all things in One. Many ordinary treasures may be denied him, or […]
A Spotted Woman
She stood there in the circle of three women and said this . . . “There’s nothing in this life like having a baby and having your baby have a baby.” She said it to the woman standing beside me, about my age, readying herself for her first grandchild due to arrive the natural way […]