Who Is Jesus?
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Drop the Rock: Unloading Unforgiveness
As I dug through the stones, scraping and scratching each knuckle, I said to my husband, “Remind me never to use landscape rocks again.” I just might not take my advice though, because rocks amaze me. Whether smooth or rough, rocks can be used to beautify and build, or to damage and destroy. Have you ever considered the rocks in the Bible? Stones of the Bible Stones and rocks form the foundations for buildings. Christ is called our Cornerstone (1 Peter 2:4). They also serve as pillows (Genesis 28:1-11) and memorials (Joshua 4:1-8). Not always shown in a positive light, rocks cause people to stumble (1 Peter 2:8). Moses even…
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I AM JESUS’ LITTLE LAMB
My love for lambs started as a child when my mom would sing “I Am Jesus’ Little Lamb” to me and my siblings. Then the death of my dad, when I was 10, left me feeling like a lost lamb. Verses like “He gathers the lambs in his arms and carries them close to his heart” (Isaiah 40: 11) brought comfort and enhanced my love for these soft, gentle creatures. Soon a collection of lambs began, including ornaments, mugs, knick-knacks, and plush lambs. When my children were born, lambs and sheep adorned their nursery, and we sang the old hymn at their baptisms. Recently, a wonderful thing happened—a live lamb…
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Expect the Unexpected
I knew there was trouble when I saw my son’s phone number calling early in the morning. “I need dad,” he said when I answered. Ah! Must be a car thing. Yep. On his way to student teaching, the accelerator in my son’s car had stuck open. “And I am teaching today and being recorded!” he added. Unable to diagnose the car issue 1,000 miles away, we encouraged our son to seek another mode of transportation and worry about the car later. We hung up and prayers ensued. “God, help him to borrow a car. God, someone must have a car available! Help him find a generous person! Help him…
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Who Will Join Me at the Manger?
Well, here we are – just days from the end of a year that will no doubt go down in history. Already, we laugh/joke/sigh/cry about 2020. Personally, I think I handled the early parts of the lock-down like Wonder Women. Already working from home, I faced the challenges (mostly) with courage, as I believe many of you did. But as the months wore on… and a hurricane hit (our first bad one)… AND then I got the dreaded disease, my strength faltered. Life came to a halt and I entered this holy season, emotionally crawling on my knees with my knuckles dragging in the dirt and my heart struggling to…
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Passing the Baton
It was the 1950’s. The sport: Track and Field. The event: Men’s Relay. At the last minute, the team was short one man, as the story goes. After already running one leg, our dad dashed across the field and was allowed (don’t ask me why) to run a second. One race, two opportunities to pass the baton. That season secured a place for the team in the school’s hall of fame. That race put our dad there. I never heard this story from his lips. Our mom shared it. His schoolmates told us more about it at the Hall of Fame ceremony. You see, our dad’s life-race was cut short.…
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Shedding Light on Suicide
Imagine being in a dark, dark room – pitch black. There are no doors, no windows. There is seemingly no. way. out. This is not an escape room game. Now imagine a faint crack in the blackness. Not light exactly, but a change in the dark. With hopelessness as your only companion you are drawn to it. It’s the only answer. Escape by death. You recognize it. You’ve seen it before. But in fear you’ve ignored it. And it disappeared. But you’re still in darkness. And each time that THING appears it becomes like hope, and you consider it more and more. According to the World Health Organization, suicide is…
