We had two of our fuchsia winter over in their hanging pots just sitting on the ground along the back fence. Then this spring new shoots appeared so I hung them in the usual spots and began watering them. They didn’t look as bushy nor as beautiful at first as the ones brought home from…
Category: Thanksgiving
Relationships Bring Hope
The team of 11 missionaries — all from Westside Journey UMC — returned from the Dominican Republic July 29th, 2019. We experienced great cross-cultural training and a great week of missions work and life impact. The best moment for me in cross-cultural training was when our group was divided into four different “cultures” for which…
Unto You…
Sheep are known as “golden hoof” by some that raise them, for the land becomes better because of them. But this was not apparent on the sheep farm nearby where we lived with our family for 15 years. There the pasture divided between the goats, and sheep and King, the llama, was just mud most…
Mary Poppins
So, I don’t know all that was involved. But here is what I do know. The movie Mary Poppins which might have simply been some kind of fun adventure, the placing of the book on the screen by Disney, God used in my life. That’s what I know. I cannot tell you HOW that is possible….
2019 Resolutions…
Dear Friends, 2019 has begun Last night, I was sitting with a group of our Junior High boys talking about setting a word or intention for the year, and they were being normally goofy and yet profound at the same time. Sometimes I don’t think they know they are profound. One of them said his…
I See You
“I see you!” Those are famous words from the 2009 James Cameron blockbuster movie AVATAR as the heroine, Neytiri, rescues the hero, Jake Sully, in the final scenes. She can see “him,” even though looking into his human not his avatar’s face. To be thus seen is to be seen as who he is, it…
Recharge
In the Ontario International Airport in California they have podiums at which to plug in and charge devices while sitting on stools or standing next to the podium. I had plugged in my computer, plugged my phone into the computer and began a personal hotspot and gone to work. I had been hammering away at…
The. God. Who. Speaks.
We were quietly sitting in worship. I had directed people to listen and write what they heard God speaking to their hearts in that moment of quiet. Dressed in a bright red vest, with her red piece of paper before her, this woman was ready to write what she heard God speaking. Instead of writing,…
Meaning…
John and I had just finished our laps and I began to stretch and asked, “So, John, what gives your life hope and meaning?” He looked at me surprised and said, “Isn’t that a kind of heavy question for first thing in the morning?” “Perhaps,” I responded, “but never a better way to start a…
Rise Above the Clouds
A while back a friend of mine, Mike, and I got on the phone. Mike and I have a weekly phone conversation on Wednesday mornings. He is a pastor in my denomination and lives across the nation in Virginia. We have been friends for 16 years. When we started talking that particular Wednesday and he…