Old Year’s Night-This Year, There Will Be Fire

New Yearโ€™s Eve portends a year of hopeful questions. Old Yearโ€™s Night is the last day of an answering year. In every case, the answer is the same. If it didnโ€™t kill you, no matter what it was, you will never fear it again.  Old Yearโ€™s Nights prepare for New Yearโ€™s Days by way of …

Exhaled (a reboot)

And then, I exhaled. Iโ€™m committed to learning to breathe deeply. This is more than a metaphor. I am a shallow breather. According to people who teach meditation,   When we breathe in a shallow way, the body remains in a cyclical state of stressโ€”our stress causing shallow breathing and our shallow breathing causing stress. This …

Morning Devotional 5.8.26

โ€œSo neither the one who plants nor the one who waters is anything, but only God, who makes things grow.โ€โ€ญโ€ญ1 Corinthiansโ€ฌ โ€ญ3โ€ฌ:โ€ญ7โ€ฌ โ€ญNIVโ€ฌโ€ฌ Only God makes things grow. We are impatient. We want things to happen because we want them, but patience isnโ€™t our strength. We also forget that we have no power, not the …

Morning Devotional 3.6.26

โ€œBe still before the Lord and wait patiently for him; do not fret when people succeed in their ways, when they carry out their wicked schemes.โ€โ€ญโ€ญPsalmsโ€ฌ โ€ญ37โ€ฌ:โ€ญ7โ€ฌ โ€ญNIVโ€ฌโ€ฌ โ€œWhat good is access if your foundation collapses the moment that pressure shows up?โ€Be patient. Trust God. Be still. Wait patiently. God has never failed you, and …

Morning Devotional 5.4.26

Lessons Learned by my Other Downward Facing Dog โ€œAnd the God of all grace, who called you to his eternal glory in Christ, after you have suffered a little while, will himself restore you and make you strong, firm and steadfast.โ€โ€ญโ€ญ1 Peterโ€ฌ โ€ญ5โ€ฌ:โ€ญ10โ€ฌ โ€ญNIVโ€ฌโ€ฌ Obu was insistent this morning. He interrupted my morning writing ( …

Morning Devotional 3.3.26

โ€œFor I am not ashamed of the gospel, because it is the power of God that brings salvation to everyone who believes: first to the Jew, then to the Gentile.โ€โ€ญโ€ญRomansโ€ฌ โ€ญ1โ€ฌ:โ€ญ16โ€ฌ โ€ญNIVโ€ฌโ€ฌ As we greet the day, let us prayโ€ฆโ€œAlmighty God, whom truly to know is everlasting life: Grant us so perfectly to know your …

Morning Devotional 4.30.26

โ€œAll the prophets testify about him that everyone who believes in him receives forgiveness of sins through his name.โ€โ€โ€ญโ€ญActsโ€ฌ โ€ญ10โ€ฌ:โ€ญ43โ€ฌ โ€ญNIVโ€ฌโ€ฌ This moment is known as the "Gentile Pentecost." Peter has a vision to preach to Roman centurion Corneliusโ€™ household, breaking with the custom of teaching only to the Jewish faithful of the time. Peterโ€™s …

Morning Devotional 4.29.26

โ€œYet to all who did receive him, to those who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of Godโ€” children born not of natural descent, nor of human decision or a husbandโ€™s will, but born of God.โ€โ€ญโ€ญJohnโ€ฌ โ€ญ1โ€ฌ:โ€ญ12โ€ฌ-โ€ญ13โ€ฌ โ€ญNIVโ€ฌโ€ฌ We are gathered into the family of God. There is no criteria …

Morning Devotional 4.28.26

Morning Devotional โ€œThis is love: not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as an atoning sacrifice for our sins.โ€โ€ญโ€ญ1 Johnโ€ฌ โ€ญ4โ€ฌ:โ€ญ10โ€ฌ โ€ญNIVโ€ฌโ€ฌ What does love look like?In the year since losing My Beloved, I have learned so many looks of love. Compassion, companionship, nurturing, even laughter. Thanks be …

Morning Devotional 4.27.26

โ€œYou are the light of the world. A city set on a hill cannot be hidden.โ€โ€ญโ€ญMatthewโ€ฌ โ€ญ5โ€ฌ:โ€ญ14โ€ฌ โ€ญESVโ€ฌโ€ฌ We are Light. The Word identifies us as visible reflectors of Godโ€™s Truth, righteousness, and love. We are called to be the embodiment of active, public faith that acts as a guiding, moral light to a fallen …