He who dwells in the shelter of the Most High will abide in the shadow of the Almighty.
They hijack our joy - they rob our contentment. You know them. They go by the acronym, WASTE. Because that's their outcome. A big fat WASTE of time. Worry, Anger, Stress, Trepidation, EnvyI just came home from a delightful yoga class where Brian our teacher quoted an intention for our practice. Brian said when negative thoughts... Continue Reading →
I can still see the white pillowcase stuffed with rocks and ragged squares of torn sheets. She would carry it over her shoulder in Santa Clause fashion and plop it on the classroom table. "This is SO heavy!" my mom would exclaim. "What on earth is inside?!" She would take out the first rock and unwrap... Continue Reading →
“Life changes in the instant. The ordinary instant.” In her book The Year of Magical Thinking, Joan Didion talks about the "ordinary instant" when her husband died. The ordinary instant. Relative to which, we mark our lives as the Before and After. For me, there was the ordinary instant when the pediatrician told me my 4-year-old son who... Continue Reading →
For years, God's voice in my head mimicked that of my mother Peggy urging me to try harder, perform better, attain more. Don't you see? You're not quite good enough. So when my friend, Sally, gave me a copy of the daily devotional called Jesus Calling, it was a spiritual game changer. It turns out... Continue Reading →
My testimony of faith is not dramatic. It is not material for an essay, a book, or a Guidepost Magazine article (the latter having been annoyingly consistent in its rejection of my submissions - which I don't hold against them. Well, maybe a little.) My story of faith can be summed up by the preposition,... Continue Reading →
Here's what I know. Jesus wept. The shortest verse in the Bible. Perhaps the most profound. He was standing at the tomb of Lazarus overcome with grief. Jesus understands. God watched His own son die on the cross. God knows suffering. In the valley of the shadow of death, He is present. You cannot see... Continue Reading →
Codie has been studying the Sermon on the Mount and wishes to share these takeaways - Chill out. Smile a lot. If you look especially cute, which I do, you get more food. (“Therefore I tell you, do not be anxious about your life, what you will eat or what you will drink, nor about your body,... Continue Reading →
In 1969 a suburban Chicago businessman named Kenneth Taylor devoted his daily train commute to paraphrasing the Bible into modern accessible text. It was called the Living Bible and my copy was green. I slept with this book, hugging it as one would a stuffed animal or squishy pillow. At 13, I was too old... Continue Reading →
The host of Moody Radio's morning show asked, "What's the fresh thing God is doing in your life?" A pregnant mom of a 3 year old called in on her way to work. She'd been feeling overwhelmed, weary, at the end of her rope. Then God spoke to her heart. With two words. I AM.... Continue Reading →
Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death... Even though the mountains be carried into the midst of the sea... Even though a host encamp against me... OK, I am not keen on ANY of these circumstances befalling ANY of us. And I am certainly opposed to being thrown into a... Continue Reading →
It's been ten years since the financial crisis. I can still see those dazed Lehman Brothers employees exiting their Wall Street offices, clutching brown boxes brimming with personal belongings hastily grabbed from a desk they would never return to. In 1991 I clutched my own brown box. My bank supervisor had called me into his... Continue Reading →
Bored at a building meeting, we'd whisper an ever important question to one another, If you could only have ONE make-up component, what would it be? Heather always opted for her beloved eyelash curler -which to this day perplexes me. Camille went for foundation. Mascara was Barb's favorite. For me the answer was of course lipstick. My... Continue Reading →
I struggle with insomnia. I fall asleep without issue, but my mind pops awake with important agenda items round about 2AM. My mind is a horrible boss with zero sense of humor. And it runs a bad meeting. First it has me revisiting the previous day's failings. The toddlers who cried nonstop at the the... Continue Reading →
Mr. Thayer's lecture was veering from the Revolutionary War to incidentals from his childhood. The hands on the wall clock refused to move. I was being held captive in 5th grade history, the last period of the day. The only positive was the window. I scanned the parking lot for our station wagon. Today my... Continue Reading →
"You've only got to take the throne of your personality and sit yourself upon it to see at once that you are conspicuously too small for it." (Source unknown.) Those times when I've pushed God off the throne, the result has been pervading sadness, longing that's unfulfilled, anxiety. Conversely, when I've reached the end of... Continue Reading →
Shadows and Shelters 