Heavenly Father, Maker of my smile and my tears, sit next to me and remind me that You are boundless. Remind me that You have made my heart, and that while we love and lose, this is how You made us to allow us to grow, and in the growing, to know You. I...
Read more →I have a valued friend who is in a deep struggle about the worship he experiences in most churches today. To him, most music that is played in church does not properly approach God with reverence and respect. “There should be a difference between the music we hear in church, which should prepare us...
Read more →Several months ago, a friend and I went through a book study because we had a talk one evening and we both realized that we didn’t feel our faith was making an impact in our lives. I had been given a copy of Dan Stone’s “The Rest of the Gospel: When the Partial Gospel...
Read more →Brennan Manning has been one of my favorite authors for a number of years now. A former Catholic priest, Manning graduated years ago with a journalism degree from Northwestern which, in my mind, simply makes him a great writer. Brennan also jokes (but seriously) in one of his books that he is one of...
Read more →Overheard while shopping at Lowe’s. Went home and listened to the full song, and was sold. I understand the lyrics.
“I think our lives are usually viewed in our chosen perspective. You think God has kept something good from you. I think He has protected you from a repeat of your past mistake.”
Well, it’s 7:30 in the evening on Sunday, and the first day of church life at Sagebrush Highland went very well. With over 300 in attendance (200 or so in the initial service) and some full youth classrooms, the new church venue began with a good base of attendees to welcome its arrival. The...
Read more →It’s 9:15 in the morning now, and the Sagebrush Highland team has set up for the first public service today. It was a fast set set up- we started at 6- and the working crew has disbanded for two hours until the service starts at 11:15. There is a lot of excitement about this...
Read more →For whatever reason this morning, I was led to sit down and chew on John 15 for a short bit in my quiet time. This is a chapter in John in which Jesus is addressing his disciples after they have just ate their last Passover meal together, he has watched their feet, and he...
Read more →“No one ever told me that grief felt so like fear. (C.S. Lewis, A Grief Observed).” I have never been good at letting in; I am doubly as poor at letting go. My mom says when I was a toddler, I would cry when the saltine crackers she gave me broke and I couldn’t...
Read more →With the weather in the mid-50’s and the sky misty this morning, there was a good rainfall coming down and clouds covered the sky when the sun rose. I thought, “So this is what it’s like to train in Seattle.” It felt great to run in the rain. A raspberry mocha hit the spot...
Read more →I’ll admit it. In many ways, this has been a great summer in my life. After years of apartment living, I somehow found myself in a home this summer, with interest rates at an all-time low and with buyers free to pick up bargains. I’ve been consistent this summer running, keeping up (mostly) with...
Read more →I am amazed at the grace of God. In the random moments when I can shake myself loose from my preoccupations, preconceptions, and prejudices, and my self falls by the side, He is there. I know this because I can look around in this world, and while planes crash and people contract cancer...
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