I love Christmas Eve. Although that’s not always been the case. Here’s a line from a journal, years back now, thankfully. “I hate Christmas Eve. It’s too hard. Too rushed. Too many people with too many expectations. Too much stuff to juggle. God, I hate it!” That from a pastor… Thankfully after that confession, I…
Tag: Joy
Stop the Madness
Those weeks — there are too many things to do, too many directions to go, emails flow in, text messages arrive, phone calls pull at us, needs hit like Dorian hit the East Coast — you know those weeks and those days. So do I. Distraction in those times is like a masked intruder…
Just Plain Lost…
“Just plain lost.” That’s what this guest in worship had written on his prayer request card. Life was tough with surgeries, with financial issues, with housing, then he wrote those three telling words which caught my heart. I had never read a clearer lament. Lost. That pervasive sense of hopelessness and despair. I reached out…
Cancer, Control and Freedom
I have many partial blog posts that I’ve written but haven’t published any for a month. This has been for multiple reasons — the heart, the mind, the stress, the feeling of inadequacy, the dealing with shame, or more likely, shame dealing with me. When I read this post by brother David Beck, a man…
God’s “no one knew was there” Path
(Reprinted from David Beck’s blog)– I’ve shared thoughts from David previously. This dear brother and pastor from Bellevue battling pancreatic cancer is a witness to the faith from the “valley of the shadow.” His words struck home to me today. Sometimes when we are hitting tough situations it helps to hear from a fellow traveler…
Thank You, Cheryl
Some weeks just create a pile up. I suppose it depends on how a person responds. But sometimes things just get tough. That’s what last week was like for me. I was scheduled to be out of town three Sundays; I still had details to complete for each of those weeks. I’m in charge of…
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….
There is Nothing Like A Friend
This week because of the gift of our daughter’s job working for the airline I could fly east to the state of Virginia for a week of vacation with my brother, fellow pastor, deep confidante, and good friend Mike. There’s nothing like a friend. Mike graduated from the same seminary as I did over a…
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…
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