My computer screensaver changes every couple of days. Usually it’s a picture of a nature scene. This morning’s is especially refreshing. Picture mountain peaks in the background, lush grass and a sparkling pond in the center and tiny flowers bobbing in the sunlight in the place where I might be standing.
In a world which bombards me with challenges, and a body that is tethered by hip pain which I soon will address with surgery, it seems, I am discouraged…..
There are so many items in the news today that could cause us anxiety: the possible release of the Supreme Court decision on Roe vs. Wade, the economy, crime in our streets (is anywhere safe?), a possible assassination attempt on Kavanugh’s life, school shootings, monkey pox + another variety of Covid, and general malaise as we face $5.00 a gallon gas…..
Today we celebrate our Kaley’s eleventh birthday. She officially begins her second decade tomorrow, but since her birth, life has not been the same. God’s blessings are like that. They serve to remind us of His provision, His love, and His mercy in this mortal life. In the past ten years we have rejoiced to see…..
In 1997 I assigned a project to my students at McNair Middle School. I asked them to find a quotation about success, and to write about someone who became a hero and changed the world. We then gathered the stories into an anthology.
This week I heard students in the Satellite High School string camp play the music from “Star Wars.”…..
When I was eight, I recited John McCrae’s poem, “In Flanders Field” at a ceremony in the Hudson Memorial Cemetery on Memorial Day. I memorized the poem, and for the first time, stood before a crowd and heard my voice magnified through a microphone. I’m sure I was more self-centered than should be, and really did not comprehend the topic of the poem. But, I heard applause for me. It should have been for those who died saving our freedom.
…..
When we look around this week, what do we see in our culture?
Do we hear notices of wars and rumors of wars? Do we hear constantly about how the massacre of teachers and students in Texas could have been prevented? Do we see the prices on everything literally from soup to nuts to gasoline rising daily? Do we acknowledge that now that summer is here, all ahead will be roses and candy?
2nd Corinthians 4:19 says: “We fix our…..
Once again, we grieve. This time we lost children, teachers, and may lose a grandmother. We pray for this close-knit town in Texas. Our hearts are breaking.
Sorrow for Lives Lost 
Almighty Father, Creator of all things,
We call upon Your Name in supplication,
For we so need Your Presence this day.
Your word tells us that the death…..
I was thinking this morning that everyday things and activities can preach sermons to ourselves. Here’s mine today.
On Tuesday mornings I generally go to breakfast with a group of Christian friends. I leave the house just before seven, and we catch up with each other’s lives, eat a Cracker Barrel breakfast, and leave around nine, encouraged and refreshed for the day.
I thought about the process today and preached a sermon to myself. Here’s generally, how it went.
First,…..
This weekend was a whirlwind of activity, travel, family, dance, music, and few minutes of respite. Worship for us was both in person and livestreamed, and those times of community, song, prayer, scripture, honor to our graduates, a wonderful sermon about decision-making by Pastor Jerry Klemm, and a season of intercessory prayer provided respite from the whirlwind we as a family experienced in two short days.
For hubby and myself, both in our eighties, it was exhausting. No less stressful,…..
In 2016 I wrote a book after researching water imagery in the Bible. There are well over 700 references to God using water to show His abundant providence, His retribution, and times of drought when men returned to God for succor and help.
Hymnwriters also use this imagery. as well. In this time of upheaval in politics and cultural life, yet…..