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A Letter From This Side of Joy
I will sprinkle clean water on you, and you will be clean: I will cleanse you from all of your impurities and from all your idols. I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit in you; I will remove from you your heart of stone and give you a heart of flesh. And I will put my Spirit in you and move you to follow my decrees and be careful to keep my laws. You will live in the land I gave your forefathers; you will be my people and I will be your God. Ezekiel 36:25-28 You have been without joy for a long while,…
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For Glory and Beauty; The Unlimited Goodness of God
You shall make them for glory and beauty. Exodus 28:40 Snowflakes are falling in West Michigan. Walking through cold January air I find myself captivated by their fleeting beauty. One in particular catches my eye, landing on my mittened hand. I study the intricate detail and wonder how many there must be stacked upon the ground and floating in the space around me, touching cold against my face. So much beautiful encapsulated in such a tiny package. As I walk, the lyrics of Gungor’s “Beautiful Things” roll through my mind. You make beautiful things, you make beautiful things out of the dust. You make beautiful things, you make beautiful things…
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Choosing Something from a Landscape Cluttered with Nothings
Turn my eyes from looking at worthless things; and give me life in your ways. Psalm 119:37 I find myself living in the midst of superfluous options, like one who sits and eats from a box of chocolates. Chocolates that come packaged in a flat white cardboard box, lined in neat rows. A box once opened reveals a homogenous landscape of too sweet, too many. I am in the middle, surrounded by flimsy brown papers, reminiscent of a Shel Silverstein line drawing (complete with a slightly cynical but true rhyme) with my pigtails askew, cheeks and tummy puffy, holding a partial box of carrageenan filled chocolatey choices. Partaking fully in…
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Weariness; When Inadequacy is a Gift
But Moses’ hands grew weary, so they took a stone and put it under him, and he sat on it, while Aaron and Hur held up his hands, one on one side, and the other on the other side. So his arms were steady until the going down of the sun. Exodus 17:12 Somewhere between “Moses! Moses! Take your sandals off your feet” (Exodus 3:4) and “there has not arisen a prophet since in Israel like Moses, whom the LORD knew face to face” (Deuteronomy 34:10), we find a man desperately inadequate doing a mighty work for God. Reality confronts Moses in Exodus 17. His people are grumbling, blaming him…
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Stumbling into a New Year; Watching in Faith
“You do not want to leave too, do you?” Jesus asked the Twelve. Simon Peter answered Him, “Lord, to whom shall we go?” John 6:67-68 I have traveled to destinations where what I see when I look is more of the same. Places where the horizon promises very little but more steps, often on already tired feet. As this new year opens, in all of its grey January glory, the forecast heralds monotony, and places I am not sure I want to be. Yet, here I am. I could bounce in with hopeful promises of new things and grand victories leading to shiny cities. But my countenance is more reflective…
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With Utmost Regards, 2020
I see you are making it, through a season of adversity that has yet been marked by an end. Day by day, that is what they say. Actually, they have little say in the matter, as day by day is the only way. You were not exactly a fan. So many memes, tik toks, funny things you’ve penned to crack the tension, but did you catch the gifts? The ones I left for you? Did you recognize them as gifts? Well they were, at least that was my intention, to give you what you could not get for yourself (perhaps you did not know that they were desirable, so busy,…
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Stepping in Faith; Unlocking Your Destiny Through Obedience
For we walk by faith, not by sight. 1 Corinthians 5:7 In childlike ignorance, only in the grown-up form, I had envisioned the Christian life to be a mountain climb followed by plateau living…a happily ever after story of sorts. Having all that I wished, uh-uhm, I mean, prayed for, all that I wanted, happiness for everyone all around. Have you ever seen a mountain range, or better, attempted a climb? A hike marked by elevation change along with miles. The up and down, habitats dependent upon elevation and whether the land receives the gentleness of the morning sun or the beating of the afternoon sun. Above the tree line,…
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Hopemonger; Living with Unhindered Belief in the Promises of God
Blessed is she who has believed that what the LORD has said to her will be accomplished! Luke 1:45 In a world of fake news and manipulated messaging, what if there is something true? What if the number one best selling book of all time is the written record of absolute truth? What if the story recorded in Luke Chapters 1 and 2 is the beginning chapter of a serious nonfiction book, an autobiography of a universal force wrapped in skin and born from the womb of a woman, destined from words spoken in Genesis 3:15. What if that universal force has a voice that speaks nothing into something as…
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The One who Longs to Abide with Us
“In my Father’s house are many rooms. If it were not so, would I have told you that I go to prepare a place for you? And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and will take you to Myself, that where I am you may be also.” John 14:2-3 Just come home. I have said these words to both of my children, ahead of time. Ahead of when circumstantial consequences may present them an alternative scenario that at the time may appear to be an easier option. Just come home. It would be easy for them to choose otherwise. They have the option…
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Be Still My Anxious Heart
The LORD is my strength and my shield; my heart trusts in him, and I am helped. Psalm 28:7 As you sit and read these words, the earth is rapidly rotating on its axis at a speed of 1000 mph, while suspended in space, held in place by something called gravity. Perhaps you are able to almost remember the explanation of gravity learned a lifetime ago in a high school or college science class. Perhaps, like me, you need a quick google minute and once googled, you will wonder if what you are reading is true or made-up. Either way, it is very unlikely that you are currently concerned about…
