Thoughts

“God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble” (Psalm 46:1, KJV) If you have ever cried out to God about what is going on in your life, in the world, and the struggles you are having, you can identify with David in Psalm 109. He lets out all the stops in his complaints as he lays it out before God. He tells God about the people who have lied about him and hated him, those who have returned evil for good. He talks about the people who have misused the poor

Sometimes God's word provides us with a list of things to bring focus and joy to our day.

As I read in the sixth chapter of Hebrews this morning, I read about hope. Hope is in scarce supply in our world today. Not only is it in scarce supply, but we have trouble accurately defining it. When most people talk about hope, the concept seems elusive and hard to grasp, something that exists beyond them – a “pie in the sky” sort of dream. We “hope” we win the lottery. We “hope” we get to Heaven. The whole idea is vague and, honestly, a little frustrating. The hope th

“If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness” (1 John 1:9, KJV). I was only gone for one week. I left happy flowers in clean pots, well-watered and weeded. I came back to blooming flowers in containers filled with weeds. Weeds of every dimension and type. Where did they come from? Flower overrun with weeds I never have to search for weeds. I pull them up, and the next day two more appear. It seem

Living by Faith – a common Christian saying. We hear it often. We say it often – “I’m living by faith.” What do we mean when we say those words? I would venture to say that those words are powerful and difficult. I spent some time in Hebrews, chapter eleven as I thought about living by faith. Hebrews 11:1 reads “Now faith is the substance of things hoped for the evidence of things not seen.” In other words, faith is not some wishy-washy feeling. It is substantial. It is

In this world we live in, we are bombarded by darkness. We can easily be caught in the whirlwind of negative thinking. God offers a different perspective. He tells us to think on the good things. In Philippians 4:8, read the instructions Paul gave to the church at Philippi. "Finally, brethren, whatsoever things are true, whatsoever things are honest, whatsoever things are just, whatsoever things are pure, whatsoever things are lovely, whatsoever, things are of good report; if

I stepped, I slipped, and I fell flat on my back as I attempted to water the plants in our rock garden. On my way down, I bounced off the side of the house. My biggest worry was my glasses, but they didn’t break. Go figure. Lying there, I could hear the thudding steps of my husband as he came running to my rescue from across the yard. Fortunately, I only suffered a bruised hip and a small knot on my head. Still, I was thankful to have his strong hands to help as I maneuver

“But they that wait upon the Lord shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings as eagles; they shall run, and not be weary; and they shall walk, and not faint” (Isaiah 40:31, KJV). I have heard this verse all my life. In fact, a preacher often came to our church when I was young and sang a song based on this verse. I still remember him patting his foot as he sang, “Teach me, Lord, teach me, Lord, to wait.” He sang well and emphasized the importance of waiting

hen we are still, quiet, we remember that He IS God, and we are not. That seems like a simple concept, but in reality, in everyday practice, we forget. We worry like we are in charge. We act like we are in charge. We talk like we are in control. But we aren’t.

The resurrection of Jesus Christ changed the course of history and made forgiveness of sin possible.

"Jesus Christ the same, yesterday, today, and forever" (Hebrews 13:8, KJV). God tells us in his word that he does not change. We repeat this and teach this, but as we parse scripture and divide testaments, I think we sometimes forget the reality of this astounding truth. We see the Old Testament God and overlook that he is the one who came to us in the New Testament. We read of Moses meeting God on Mount Sinai without remembering that Jesus stood on the Mount of Transfigu

Pain. Excruciating pain! That is what I felt when the heavy metal door closed on my finger. That finger hurt for weeks. I protected it and nursed it, and it seemed to be healing. I no longer wore a bandage because it did not bleed at the slightest touch. I could go for hours without any thought of the unfortunate incident….unless I happened to bump it. Then immediately, the pain would flare like no healing had occurred. The finger looked better, but it was not well.

During this week of the cross, I think about the people who surrounded Jesus during His last days and last moments. I always spend time reading the chapters in the gospels that describe His last days on this Earth as the Son of Man, and I think about His interactions with these people. As we move toward Resurrection Sunday, the cross is always on my mind. I remember that before He rose, He suffered. Before He ascended to His Father, He was persecuted. Before He celebrated the

We keep a compost pile where we dump our food scraps each day. We mix in leaves from the yard and a little dirt, stir it around periodically, ensure that it stays damp, usually from the rain, and wait for nature to run its course. The result is rich soil that we can use in flower pots and flower beds. Along the way, opossums and raccoons get some nighttime snacks, a few potatoes grow from the scraps, and other interesting things happen. Overall, the compost pile is a great ad

My husband and I went out on the Gulf of Mexico several months ago in search of grouper and red snapper. After snagging more than enough fish for the likes of us, we headed in to dock the boat. As he slowly floated us toward the dock where he would refuel, he instructed me to catch the lines to secure the boat to the dock. I gingerly stepped on the side of the boat and thought, “This is okay. I can do this.” The boat continued to move forward/sideways into the tight spot,

Dust, destruction, noise, debris all describe the environment that surrounds renovation. Our family should know. My husband is busily renovating a large portion of our daughter’s home. What a mess. But it is a mess working toward something beautiful, something better than before. So, she is willing to wade through the rubble, deal with the dust and the inconvenience, wear ear plugs when the noise is too much, keep the children busy, and generally stay the course while she a

This world comes at us fast and furious. New technology. New gadgets. New expectations. New laws. New taxes. New ways of doing things. Updates to phones. Updates to banking. We just get used to a system, and the system changes. At work and at home we live in a constant state of upheaval. There seems to be no place of rest. I hate to plug in my phone at night, because I'm afraid it will look different when I wake up. Some days I feel the frustration building in my soul,

St. Simon's Island, Georgia Tonight, a tiny sliver, almost missed behind the trees, appeared. I’m always surprised by the sight, amazed at its delicacy. My favorite phases of the moon that appear just before or just after the new moon are the waning and waxing crescents. Those are the scientific names. In our home, though, we call them the ‘fingernail moon’, thus dubbed when our daughter was four years old and noticed the crescent for the first time. We agreed that the name

Harry S. Truman State Park, Missouri My dad was a happy man, but he took his life and his responsibilities seriously. He worked hard, and he taught us to be accountable in life. Outings often found us in the woods or in areas around lakes and water. In Florida, that means weeds and snakes and alligators. Early in life, we were taught to look where we stepped and not to run carelessly through high weeds or to jump over rotting logs, a favorite resting place of snakes. Instea

Riding along the roads between Florida and Texas this past week gave me plenty of time to view the bare trees of winter. They lined the roadways, their branches intertwined and reaching skyward, some straight, others gnarled and aged. I enjoyed the beauty of their architecture, and I am always amazed at the uniqueness and variety of their shapes and sizes. The storms the trees have weathered were evident in the scars the trunks and branches showed. Some were bent and twisted