A new command I give you: Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another. By this all men will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another. ~John 13:34-35 I had a pastor who cautioned us about the danger of using the “random finger” method of […]
when you feel like a flop as a follower
I feel a little bit better this week. A little. At least I don’t feel like a total flop as a follower. Some of the thoughts I’m chewing on… We can’t decide to make Him Lord because He already is. It’s our job to submit to His lordship. It’s not our job to personalize […]
scripture sunday: righteous
For in the gospel the righteousness of God is revealed–a righteousness that is by faith from first to last, just as it is written, “The righteous will live by faith.” The wrath of God is being revealed against all the godlessness and wickedness of people, who suppress the truth by their wickedness. ~Romans 1:17-18 (NIV) Still […]
a sacred pause: a prayer experience
I climb up the back steps, push open the door, walk past the library on my right, past the sanctuary on my left, through the parlor lit only by stained glass windows. The chapel, on the right, is set up. Nobody else is here. I’ve come to complete an assignment, a challenge to check off […]
when you’re crushed and broken
It’s just the two of us for dinner. I scrounge up some chicken, left over from the chicken-with-cherry-sauce recipe from A Taste of Laity Lodge. Only for her, I serve it plain with bottled Hawaiian sauce and no cherries and a broken breadstick with pizza sauce. She skips the asparagus. Then she trades the chicken […]
follow me–or when you only think you’re a christian
Follow me. We had 45 minutes’ notice of a Friday night basketball camp. I tossed the book in my purse, and while Grace got instruction, I sat on the lowest bleacher and read. Before I’d gotten through the first chapter, my gut started to churn, and I thought it might disgorge itself right there […]
in which my week spins and i center
I’m curled up with my cream-colored plush throw to read in preparation for a High Calling book club discussion, when my daughter-in-law calls. My son’s vertigo is back, and he’s begging to go to the emergency room. I sigh. Not again. When it happens, it happens out of the blue and keeps him down for […]
her father’s joy
“You’re just waiting to get pregnant,” my doctor assured me. But days of thermometers and planned lovemaking and monthly disappointment tore at thinned emotions, feelings also frayed from too much doing, too much identity seeking in serving. Adoption doors hid behind lines that flowed into forever. “The company wants us to move,” my husband told […]
when the work just seems fruitless
I got the green light for that article. Then there’s the interview request. Plus the friends’ books I want to read and write about. There’s this blog and the e-book I’m supposed to be working on. Not to mention a couple of other books–one of which I’d like to finish in my dad’s lifetime–and […]
in which my son wears the mask of God in his work
What else is all our work to God–whether in the fields, in the garden, in the city, in the house, in war, or in government–but just such a . . . [way] by which He wants to give His gifts in the fields, at home, and everywhere else? These are the masks of God, behind […]
