Weeks ago I wrote about God’s will in a proactive sense. Knowing and doing the will of God in everyday life. There is another facet of God’s will that is far more difficult to grasp, that is when He – in His sovereignty – seemingly says “no” or “wait” to our plans, or we suffer […]
Hope
I am expecting my Dad’s passing any time. These days I like to think that my Mom’s last (and greatest) gift was graciously allowing me to learn from my mistakes over her illness and death (two years ago this month) how to walk with Dad in his illness, and pending death. (Thanks Mom.) Mom’s death […]
Bruising of Blessing
I have been communing with Abram lately. I mean, I have been reading and rereading his story, from the book of Genesis. There was no organized Hebrew religion during his lifetime; the temple was still a distant dream in the mind’s eye of God. Yet Abram knew God in a personal way that we can only imagine […]
Re-remembering 9/11
I tried talking with my father today about the 9/11 attacks. There have been some wonderful specials on TV recently, and as I tried to relate these to him on a level his Alzheimer’s might allow, I realized he didn’t remember the attacks on America at all. But he was alarmed to think that our […]
Suffering-Part 2
Last post, I shared some thoughts from Joni Eareckson-Tada about suffering. Coming from just about any other individual, the words might sound distant, heady, even cold, but from a long-time quadriplegic and pain sufferer, my heart nods in agreement. God puts up with suffering as a by-product of our fallen human nature, while He waits […]
Memories
“Memories, may be beautiful and yet…what’s too painful to remember, we simply chose to forget.“ —from The Way We Were Memories certainly can be beautiful or painful. Jack, my husband, plays Ce La Luna Mezz’o Mare (a Sicilian song) on his iPod each morning. Says it reminds him of his father, who used to sing […]
Snakes, Vipers, Hypocrites
I’ve been feeling pretty guilty because I’m not sure I had the right to be so harsh on Harold Camping in Saturday’s post. If I make a public mistake, and perhaps I will someday, would I want the world – especially my fellow Christians – to jump down my throat? Of course not. I would […]
End of the World!
This is it, folks. According to Christian Family Radio and its leader, Harold Camping, this morning’s sunrise was the last we will ever see. Today, earthquakes and floods will usher in the end of the world…at least the beginning of it. Or was it the rapture? Something BIG is supposed to happen today, anyway. I’ve […]
Cynicism
Another candidate for cynicism – Bethany Hamilton. See how she overcame it in the film Soul Surfer. Cynicism is poison to the soul. How do I know? Because I am a cynic…or at least a recovering cynic. I have a bent toward cynicism and constantly have to work to resist it. At least I am […]
Words that Sting
March 4, 2011 One of the most influential people in my young Christian life, as a new follower of Jesus, was the musician Keith Green. Keith was loved by the Christian masses but not always appreciated by the “formal” church because he was unafraid of sharing God’s truth as he understood it. But no matter […]