Seeking to be CONTENT in all things, JOYFUL in HOPE, PATIENT in affliction.
Silent Night has long been a Christmas favorite. Did you know it started with a broken organ? A broken church organ in an Austrian town more than 200 years ago. The words were penned by a young priest in Oberndorf, a reflection on the night angels announced the birth of the long-awaited Messiah to shepherds on a hillside. He wanted the poem set to music for Christmas Eve mass. But the church …
Do you know what day it is? I still have a problem remembering. This has been a problem ever since we began staying at home those many months ago. Our routines changed. We shopped for groceries online. Church services, study and social groups started meeting online. The usual markers of time were missing. Our neighborhood’s end-of-summer Antique Faire was cancelled. The first day of school was anticlimactic because it was virtual, too. Here in California, the weather stayed hot …
I sought the Lord, and He answered me; He delivered me from all my fears. Psalms 34:4 When I was little, my mom had a rattlesnake rattle in her top dresser drawer. It was kept in a gold ring box -- a token from her teenage years living in New Mexico. She and a group of friends were on the sand dunes near her home. She stepped off a rock and was confronted by an enormous rattlesnake coiled and ready. A boyfriend saved her and presented her with the rattle as a memento. …
Continue reading Don’t Go Into the Cellar! Fear and our faith
Who knew that growing potatoes in flower pots could be so satisfying? This is something that I discovered during my pandemic gardening adventures. It was such an odd summer. Now summer is ending, but not the odd. Many of us have tried things that we would never attempt in the Before Times - pandemic projects like baking sourdough bread, sewing masks, and painting. Home improvement stores have experienced a surge in sales as …
SF. Chronicle My church summer camp may burn down today. Other camps are gone. Harley Goat Farm near tiny Pescadero, California, where we'd take the kids during camping trips, also may be in danger.I feel like my childhood, my happy memories are being torched. It is a heavy feeling. Our home is safe, unlike 50,000 structures under threat throughout the state. But the air isn't fit to breathe. Another sucker punch to the gut The New York Times …
A seismic blast formed a mushroom cloud over the Port of Beirut this week. It might have rocked the world, but the world was preoccupied with its own problems. A deadly pandemic, economic collapse, death, and despair. This was the third strongest blast in history. Still, it felt like just one more thing added to the collective loss, pain, and confusion that have become 2020. Caused by human failings rather than war, the Beirut explosion killed at least 135, injured thousands and has left a staggering 300,000 people homeless. It happened 75 …
Part of Nehemiah's wall in Jerusalem Many things have fallen apart during this strange time of COVID-19. For some, it is a sense of well-being and safety. For others, it is mental health. Long months of isolation have worn down our defenses against anxiety and depression. We are feeling increasingly hopeless.Some people have seen their …
Continue reading One Brick at a Time: Rebuilding and Renewal
It is easy to tear down idols in society; it's a whole other thing to root them out of our own hearts.
Hugs are an essential service.
All too often, we believe peace is impossible in our community, in our homes and our marriages. Impossible in the light of scary test results and uncertain futures. Our default setting is defeat.
SMALL MOMENTS FULL OF GRACE 