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
Years ago I lost a contact in a swimming pool. Something was in my eye after trying to adjust my swim mask and I unintentionally popped that sucker right out into a massive community pool. The contact lens was tinted blue. It was our neighborhood pool, a couple of blocks from our home and the … Continue reading This is the sign
I smiled and told her I think something’s gotten lost, something’s missing.
When she realizes I mean more than an item missing from my cart, she eyes the Easter cards with scripture on the front and says they are great.
She tells me she believes.
“Or who shut in the sea with doors when it burst out from the womb, when I made clouds its garment and thick darkness its swaddling band, and prescribed limits for it and set bars and doors, and said, ‘Thus far shall you come, and no farther, and here shall your proud waves be stayed’? … Continue reading Storm-tossed
You don’t want to see it. Trust me on this one. The gruesome image of my husband’s ankle split wide apart—bone exposed—taken by an audacious ER nurse who couldn’t believe his eyes is unsettling at best. The incongruity can only be fully understood by knowing that my husband is a natural athlete. He throws a … Continue reading Tangible brokenness
Three days before my father-in-law died, I visited a local florist seeking some cheer, for me, for all of us. Stepping through oddly placed, automatic, glass sliding doors that had been an afterthought on an old house felt like stepping into open jaws ready to consume. Willing to be eaten, I entered to find promises … Continue reading Fresh cut
As I sat reading this morning while drinking diluted, doctored coffee, my eyes and mind went over and again to this Advent countdown with cutout cardstock in the center of the kitchen table. My youngest and I have worked our way, day by day, cutting and sorting and displaying the individual steps. I realize as … Continue reading All that is left on this Eve is the crown
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