Our side yard is a butterfly magnet. At least, it was last summer. You know how much I love butterflies, Lord! So You filled the side yard of our mountain retreat with Butterfly Bushes. Last summer, they were a favorite "hang out" for countless winged beauties! Today, they had only two words in their vocabulary. Two words they...
We "celebrated" Pentecost at church today. I put quotes around that word because I kept waiting for the pastor to pull a Paul Harvey. Paul was famous for giving us "the rest of the story." Today, it seemed that an important part of The Story -- the truly supernatural part -- was left out... as if it...
Sometimes I wonder. More often than not, by Your Amazing Grace, I just know. Like the other day. I heard the enemy's whispers. He's always trying to sow doubt and discouragement, so he can reap a harvest of disappointment and disobedience. He has some favorite one-liners: "No one cares." "It doesn't matter." "it won't make any...
"I'm not worth it." Remember the first time I said that to You, Abba? It was May 20, 1987... my spiritual birthday. It was the first time I had said it to You, but not the first time I had thought it. You had made Yourself known to me three times during the previous thirteen...
Like a pilot light in a windstorm... Sometimes, it's hard to stay LIT. I was with a precious brother-in-Christ today. He is trying to be Your Light, Lord, within the organization where he works. But it's hard. He has taken a stand about a significant issue facing his organization. His position, grounded in Your Word, does...
People ask me how I find my clients, Lord. I know it is always You who directs our steps, so we both come to know You intend for us to journey together for a season. But this morning... You used an approach You have never used before. In my quiet time, You led me to...
Risking everything. Trying as hard as possible to succeed against great odds. Apparently, this expression was first coined as the motto of a World War II Japanese-American military unit. Funny how that military context brings into sharp focus the urgency of certain lifestyle choices and their potential consequences. Is it ever as "simple" as kill or be...
Sometimes, Lord, You are not content to just whisper to me. Sometimes, Your messages overwhelm my senses with 3-D Technicolor and Sensurround!!! Like today. I was sitting on our front porch with a precious sister-in-Christ. She had come to talk with me about significant burdens -- not just her own personally, but the burdens she feels for...
Oh, Abba... I couldn't help but reflect today on the fact that some pretty significant things happen in four-year cycles. National elections, for one. After a long season during which candidates espouse the "rightness" of their positions on Issues A to Z, we vote to select those we believe can best lead us into Tomorrow. Leaders tackling future...
Oh, Abba... You often speak to me through the wonders of Nature You have created! And You do it so often, it almost seems I can't go outside anymore without feeling a heightened sense of anticipation. What will You say today? When You do speak like this, You never cease to amaze me. Because You convey messages...
