The question is: “Who is God?” Perhaps the foundation of all questions. A basic, yet critical inquiry that echos through the hearts of generations. Has this question lurked in your mind or passed your lips? A solid answer exists. A disclosure not coming from man’s understanding, perspective or experience. But straight from God. His self-proclamation. You want to know who God is? He proclaims in Exodus 34:5-7, “This is who I am.” “Then the Lord came down in the cloud...
May 2, 2019
The Answer to a Profound Question
April 25, 2019
Why We Choose a Rocky Path
Hard things sneak up behind us. Or hit us full in the face. But sometimes God asks us to alter our course and step onto a path headed straight into a hard. Straight toward a difficulty we would choose to bypass; intentionally being part of circumstances that we could list a baker’s dozen reasons why we should execute a big detour to avoid the mess. We hesitate on the precipice of a hard where God is directing us. Afraid. Troubled...
April 18, 2019
Sunday’s A-Comin’
Holidays during a period of hard can be overwhelming. Detailed preparation for gatherings, with special services and events filling the calendar, and your heart struggles to care. If you are facing this Easter week feeling worn out and grasping for hope, lay expectations down, whether from yourself or others. Take time to peel away the layers of unnecessary, and focus on the core remembrances of this season. Walking through periods of difficulty presents the perfect time to get concerns off...
April 11, 2019
Facing Hard Changes? Take His Hand
Difficult transitions into new seasons can spark a hard. Taking a giant step from the comfortable, security of the known into the discomfort and shaky unknown pours fear, sorrow, and insecurity into our soul. Waiting in the family van to retrieve a son from a late-running ball practice, the reality of an upcoming change sunk in deep. Thankful for the darkness and storm smearing the windshield, obscuring the sorrow that rained down my face, a deep lamenting began. “Lord, this...
April 4, 2019
What’s So Important about the Here and Now?
Many are familiar with the app “Google Maps”. The program will route a trip from your location to a specific destination by entering the address and touching the “directions” button. Like magic, a map appears showing the quickest route. Just tap “start” and off you go. What you can see at this point is where you are and just a fraction of the next few miles. However, you can look ahead at your journey by manipulating the screen. Maybe you...
March 28, 2019
Hello? Is Anybody Listening?
Unanswered prayer. Whether for self or standing in the gap for others, we pray for healing. Reconciliation. Direction. Salvation. And nothing. Is. Happening. Or perhaps worse, the opposite of our request comes to pass. Is God listening? Have I missed something? Am I praying “wrong”? Is there any point? We lost two very close friends to cancer. We have a photo, now precious to us, of them sitting with us and their spouses on our couch celebrating a new year;...
March 21, 2019
How to Propel our Petitions
Times arise when we just have nothing left. No answers. No energy. No certainty. No direction. Tasks loom insurmountable.Turmoil stretches endless behind and before us. There is too much on our plate, draining our scant reserves. We ache with longing as desires stack up unmet. Our demeanor labels us with hashtags: #troubled #stressed #confused #spent When those times roll in wave upon wave, what can we do? Even prayer comes hard. Where can we turn? We open the scripture and let...
March 14, 2019
Nipping Navel-Gazing
Our journeys do not run parallel. We do not face the same hards, nor confront them at the same time. Envision hiking a path through soft meadows where birdsong swirls around us, butterflies dance from flower to stem, and the sweet smell of sun-warmed grass carries us along. Soon our journey wanders into wooded forest where deep shade cools our skin, the tops of pines whisper in the breeze as we inhale an earthy scent. Green moss clings to rocks...
March 7, 2019
4 Ways to Defeat Doubt
Doubt. To be uncertain. To distrust and be apprehensive. Doubt makes us hesitant and reluctant, freezing us in our tracks or sending us crawling back under the covers. Doubts threaten to keep us undecided and stagnant in belief. Faith and trust stand firm as the antitheses to doubt. Aiming this double-barrel shotgun at our doubts sends them scurrying. But sometimes, our weapons are misplaced and we stand unarmed, feeling confused, prone to uncertainty, skepticism and anxiety. We traipse through difficult...
February 28, 2019
The Dreaded C Word
One need not journey long in life before the air is sucked from your lungs by the C word. Before you can get your bearings, the cancer roller-coaster sweeps you away through uncertain plunges, dark tunnels, with painful twists and turns. Tests. Biopsies. Scans. Surgeries. Chemo. Radiation. Horrible side effects. Cancer has earned its badge to induce fear. Unwelcome, it tears at families’ hearts and lives, is no respecter of person or position; of age or strength. It dares to...