We are bare and barren and nothing apart from the creation, covering and breath of God. We are dry bones stuck awkwardly together with the angles not quite matching up. There is no life without his command to come alive.
We wanted blood. And what is incomprehensible? We got it.
“But the path of the righteous is like the light of dawn, which shines brighter and brighter until full day.” Proverbs 4: 18 Feeling my face flush and blood pressure shoot up, I watch as the car in front of me slows and then continues to drift from its lane. The driver had to hear … Continue reading Maintaining your lane
“Ideal Christianity doesn’t exist, because anything the human being touches, even Christian truth, he deforms slightly in his own image.” ~Flannery O’Connor The sound was surely worse than the reality. At least that is what I told myself as the pounding brushes and blasting water grew louder. The massive arms rolled ever-so-slowly down the length … Continue reading Putting our faith in the wrong thing
Like a constrictor squeezing harder with each gasp, the feeble mind eliminates any rational line of thinking. It is why anxiety can feel so suffocating.
The Word can change us from the inside out, if we are only willing.
Though God’s people repeatedly forget him, he never forgets them. Though God’s people often flatter with their mouths, lie with their tongues, he is always true. Though God’s people often lack compassion, he does not. God’s people forget him, but he always remembers us.
We have expectations and disappointments and are often swept up in a world that glosses over the underlying glory of the truth.
We can be afflicted, perplexed, persecuted and even struck down—but God.
Following his lead does not lead to an inviting home on a temporal plane. It is a battle for the heart and mind against the quiet of fleeting, shallow fulfillment.
When we come face-to-face with God, there is no appropriating His name or power for ourselves. When we know Him, there can only be awe, reverence, fear before the depths of His presence.
The only way to real life, life that gets you through 30 years is through that death to self. The amazing part is what is born from that dying—the beauty that cannot be found any other way.
Jesus is the perfect and when we see him, we won’t worry about any half measures.
The dying effort still offers life—and what it produces easily ignites a fire.
“Believe nothing you see and only half that you hear.” ~Edgar Allan Poe My vision is poor, literally and often figuratively. This has caused unnecessary moments of panic on more than one occasion. From standing in the shower and staring hard at the corner of the ceiling above me convinced a spider has decided it … Continue reading Though you have not seen him, you love him
It’s a number I don’t want to know: how many times I have seen the movie Top Gun. While watching with my nearly 18-year-old daughter for her first time, I was struck by a previously unnoticed detail—the rescue swimmer who jumps into the ocean to rescue Goose and Maverick following the fatal plane crash. What a … Continue reading Glimpsing God through gifts He’s bestowed
“And when the devil had ended every temptation, he departed from him until an opportune time. And Jesus returned in the power of the Spirit to Galilee, and a report about him went out through all the surrounding country.” Luke 4: 13-14 The tile floor is bearable this morning despite record-low temperatures in East Texas. … Continue reading Resting in the ashes
As she talked, I breathed in, making sure my own chest didn’t rattle. Fearfully I listened knowing that this silent, invisible enemy is working his way nearer, squeezing out breath of any and all along the way.
“Then Jesus, deeply moved again, came to the tomb.” John 11:38 While I am writing these words, somewhere my daughter is being pepper sprayed, on purpose. It is a requirement for her job as a deputy sheriff. She texted to tell me a time so I could be praying. She is nervous and I am … Continue reading Deeply moved
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