Playground Theology 8/25/2021 - Let’s be honest. The only real reason to look forward to elementary school as a child was recess. Way back when I was a young grade-schooler, we even had three per day! Shocking, I know. I won’t mention the half day kindergarten with snack time AND nap time! Thank the Lord, all 6-year-olds today are mentally and emotionally advanced enough to focus on their academics for 7 hours straight unlike my generation. But recess is what my friends and I looked forward to the most. All-metal jungle gyms with monkey bars above gravel or asphalt, teeter-totters, 10-foot slides, football, tag, basketball, tetherball, and red rover. It’s amazing 90% of us survived to see middle school. But not everything on the playground was peaches and cream. There was the occasional injury accompanied by tears, playground game rule infractions accompanied by scholastic debates, large kid bullies accompanied by panicked running, and the occasional dust-up with one’s lifelong friends... Read more
Uphill Spider Webs 8/18/2021 - My husband and I have the ability to be together during the day often due to both of our work schedules. One of the things I love to do most is to go hiking. Get me out in the great outdoors and you are speaking my love language. Mike knows this and plans many day dates around this activity. A few weeks back we were hiking a familiar trail in Brown County. He and I approach things very differently. He goes slow uphill and fast downhill. I am the exact opposite. This particular trail had quite a few uphill climbs. Typically, Mike lets me get in the front on these types of trails. This day he wasn’t. I was trying to be patient, really I was. I waited up one hill, behind him, following closely. I was getting annoyed and impatient. (I know, pretty patient right??) It was hot, I was hungry, and I just wanted this trail to be over with... Read more
God's Not Done 8/11/2021 - My mom suffers from dementia. It has been a slow decline over the past 10 years. The year of isolation due to Covid 19 restrictions in her Long Term Care Facility caused a very rapid progression of her disease. I couldn’t visit her with the consistency she was used to. Once I was allowed to visit again, she struggled to know exactly who I was. Luckily, the years of spending time with her taught me to just roll with it. I don’t spend my time with her trying to make her remember. I just enjoy being with her. My mom is a believer and one day she will be completely whole again in every sense of the word. I long for that day for her. But what about the “now?... Read more
Garments of Grace 8/4/2021 - So often when we sin, we tend to allow shame to pour itself over us and hang on us like a heavy coat. We keep wearing the coat of shame and condemnation, because after all, don’t we deserve it? Don’t we deserve to feel the uncomfortable pain of shame after we disobeyed and sinned against God? What if instead of wearing that coat of shame, we allowed Him to cover us in garments of grace? What if we allowed His mercy to peel off that shameful coat, and step into a garment of forgiveness that He made just for us?... Read more
How Will They Know? 7/28/2021 - How will they know? Will it be our coffee mugs, jewelry, or t-shirts? Where we park our cars Sunday mornings or the music playing on our radios? Maybe the political signs that appear in our yard every few years? Perhaps our modest dress and white weddings? No, wait. I’ve GOT IT! I know the answer. It will be by all the scripture we can regurgitate as we lead others to Christ... Read more