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15 days to PRAY for 2015!
Call it a line in the sand! An opportunity to lean in! A moment to invite Father! A posture to take! Whatever you would like to call it, Ron and I have been thinking about this year and taking hold of another moment to “begin again” with our family and with your family! The best way to “begin again” is first to pray! Father God has been thinking about 2015 and our families already! He has great things to share and great adventures to lead. Let’s begin this year talking with him about what is on his mind for us, handing over our plans for his and seeking his lead for our steps! Finally, let’s talk with him about our children and raising...
Read More“My Driveway Discussion”
Do you have that place, you know, that familiar setting that without thinking it triggers a conversation with your Heavenly Father? Sometimes you might not think you’re talking with God; maybe it’s more like self-talk. And, then again, maybe it’s a battle with the one who seeks to undermine your thoughts and steal your joy. I have experienced seasons where I have gone in and out of each of these discussions. It is absolute joy when I experience the nearness of Father. But I must confess that this does not happen as much as I would hope. It seems that my self-talk moments and/or battles with the deceiver are more frequent than I’d like. I have a...
Read MoreThoughts of Peace, Not Evil
So the question I’ve been mulling of late is: “Do my thoughts for my children produce fears in me or do they yield prayers of faith?” I will ask you the same. When you think about the present circumstances or the future plans for your kids, are you at peace or are you anxious? I have been stretched to my limits recently with this question. As a sidebar, (and I will take liberty to sidebar though my dear wife, Karla, despises my rabbit trails) my limits have looked very different as my kids have grown from baby-stage to elementary to now pre-teen. So, whatever your limit or circumstance, it is all important stuff to consider and think through. My recent...
Read More“Hope!”
“Good Friday and Easter free us to think about other things far beyond our own personal fate, about the ultimate meaning of all life, suffering, and events; and we lay hold of a great hope.” Dietrich Bonhoeffer while sitting in a jail cell on April 25, 1943 It is good for me to remember my hope does not rest in my circumstance nor my performance nor my children’s performance! My hope rests in a faithful Father that again and again has brought me to his “green pastures” of rest, forgiveness and direction (Psalm 23). I want you to remember too! There is a place to lay down your burden and rest. There is a place to free your mind of past...
Read MoreCheck out what Father is up to today . . . .
In whatever wilderness you are wandering, remember these words in Jeremiah 31. They are for us too! Father is out looking for us! As we search, as we yearn, as we wonder – is there rest for our weariness? Father says yes. More than that, Father comes looking. He comes looking for us. Check out the truth I read this morning over cereal and coffee. “This is the way God put it: ‘They found grace out in the desert, these people who survived the killing. Israel, out looking for a place to rest, met God out looking for them!'” Jeremiah 31:2 from The Message Ron had asked what God card we were studying this week. He went to the Plan and saw that we had...
Read More“Grace – it finds us!”
We started a conversation in the book of Colossians around our kitchen table on Sunday. Since our word for the year is “peace,” we read the whole letter looking for that word. It didn’t take long – verse 2. “Grace and peace to you from God our Father.” I asked Maya, Ada and Carson what the word “grace” meant to them. Carson’s quick reply: “Grace – it finds us!” Oh blessed child – “it finds us!” My heart jumps! Yes it does! In the crevices of our pain, struggle, and discontent, Father God comes running, throws his arms around us, kisses us on the forehead, invites us to the banquet...
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