A republishing of a post from December, 2011, at the request of a friend. Christmas has more sadness woven in the lining now for me than it used to, and I would have written this post differently today than I did 7 Christmases ago. But I’m glad I wrote it then and not now, because […]
And She Treasured These Things In Her Heart
Okay, so yesterday I woke up early, groggily whipped out a “Wednesday in the Word” post (which is a terrible name, by the way, but shows just how uncreative I am when it comes to the pressure of titles) while fielding the complaints of two fever-ridden kids and watching Daniel Tiger. That was oh, 6:30 […]
Spiritual Boundaries, Part 2: Real Life is Now
(post #12) writing for a month within the sacred smallness of this very real life: see all posts here Note: this is the second part to a short series-within-a-series on spiritual boundaries. Read introductory story here. I love my charismatic upbringing. The confidence afforded me in my relationship with Christ, the foundational assurance that I am loved, and wanted, and […]
Spiritual Boundaries, Part 1: Sacred Smallness, Real Life is Now.
(post #11) see list of all posts here Picture this, I’m 17 years old, and my tiny youth group has joined all the other Assemblies of God churches for a youth convention. The AG liturgy is followed perfectly. It’s an unspoken liturgy, because we consider it to be “the movement of the Holy Spirit” even […]
Is There Something Greater Than Being Known By God?
If you’ve poked around my website much, you know that I place a high value on knowing God through the experience of being known by him. My last two posts about Nathanael have as their take away the reality – the TRUTH! – of our being able to be seen and known and loved by Jesus. The opening lines […]
Wednesdays In The Word: John 1:43-45 (Witnesses of Jesus)
The next day Jesus decided to go to Galilee. He found Philip and said to him, “Follow me.” Now Philip was from Bethsaida, the city of Andrew and Peter. Philip found Nathanael and sad to him, “We have found the One of whom Moses in the Law and also the Prophets wrote, Jesus of Nazareth!” (John […]
Altars For Sin…
“Since Ephraim has multiplied altars for sin, they have become altars of sinning for him.” Hosea 8:11 I love Hosea 8:11. I love it almost more than any other verse in the Bible. I love every bit of its confusing archaic glory and its repetitive words, because one day long ago in the equally confusing […]
Wednesdays In The Word: John 1:14 (show me your glory)
“And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we have seen his glory, glory as of the only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth.” (John 1:14) (for previous posts on this verse see here and here and here)* GOD’S GLORY Matthew Henry wrote that when God became man, “the beams […]
Land of the Living
The night finds me distracted by library books and headlines about Weapons of Mass Destruction and the little boy making a bed on my living room floor. ISIS advances and Ebola sweeps, but today my grandfather said vows in his twilight years and married the woman he loves. FaceTime carried to their great-grandfather the congratulations of my children. I […]
Do This In Remembrance of Me
We break bread and the youngest daughter, she’s scared of the cup. Her Papa holds it to her but she cries, and when her eyes clench, I think, isn’t that just how we all ought to feel? It’s as dark as the tomb in that belly of a challis, cold and completely unknown. And to […]