Finding Calm in Stormy Seas
“All hands on deck!” the captain hollered, as another towering wave crashed over the bow. The cabin of our barely sea-going vessel was already knee-deep with water. We were bailing as fast as we could, but the storm was beating us down. How do you make headway in a blinding rain when every wave threatens to throw you overboard? “Cap’n, […]
There’s a place for you
“That house is new, but it looks like it’s been there all along,” we observe on our way by. That lot has been vacant for some time, but now it has a house on it. And it’s a beauty! Fits right in with the other houses on the street — quiet, residential, tasteful, landscaped, cared […]
A curious thing happened to Joseph on the way to divorce
So much. So much casting shame and guilt. So much accusing of conspiracy and falsehood. So much indicting for behaviors unbecoming and deeds unwelcome. So much righteous indignation. So much misunderstanding. And yet… This is how the birth of Jesus the Messiah came about: His mother Mary was pledged to be married to Joseph, but […]
How much further can we get?
Every last little one
The little ones who cling and cooperate who listen to instructions who raise their hands and smile to answer questions… They fill you up and keep you coming back. They’ll do fine. The ones who resist and refuse who defy you to “make them” who turn a cold shoulder or don’t turn at all and […]
What is your place of abiding?
“Jesus came for a far more radically transforming purpose than to serve as a role model. Jesus came to invite us into a living relationship with him, to abide, live and move in his spirit, as the branch abides in the living vine. Just as the bird does not imitate the air or the fish […]
Life is a Workshop
“Life is a workshop; the crafting of our soul is our own work to do. We are all pieces of creation, of clay, into which we are asked to breathe life. It is ours to work that clay.” ~ Dee Dee Risher in The Soulmaking Room Work that clay… Not, take that clay to the gym and […]
Did the Resurrection really happen?
Does it matter if the Resurrection actually happened? This was the question we considered in my adult Sunday School class at a church I used to belong to. I was a regular at Sunday school, where we considered issues of faith and its practice as a matter of course. Sunday school was organized and led […]
Separate is not Equal
We don’t want to hear it! And we certainly don’t want to see pictures of it! That’s what my friends who are digging out of Blizzard 2016 are telling me. And I don’t blame them. There they are, buried in nearly three feet of snow, and here I am sitting pretty in the Florida sunshine. […]
Not Your Usual Bouncer
Ready…go! Each set off at his own pace with her own rhythm in their own style. Bounce.. bounce…. bounce. bounce…boun..ce bounceee.. bou..bbounce Tennis balls, in their joy and merriment, leaping and playing, of their own accord. Until bounce..bounce.bounce..bounce..bounce.bounce..bounce. Became bounce.bounce.bounce.bounce. They were finished, then. Fallen in, Rank and file, Orderly. Procession. Oh, the sound. Calling […]