Read: John 14:15-20 I will not leave you as orphans; I will come to you. (v. 18) When I was young, every time we had a particularly bad storm that knocked out power to our home, my father would put on his raincoat and, with lightning flashing and thunder crashing, leave the house and enter the storm. I did not want him to go because I didn’t understand. My father worked for the local power company, and he had to …
Slowing Down Enough to Notice
Read: Psalm 19 The heavens declare the glory of God. (v. 1) Sitting in the dark next to the campfire, I looked up and saw a sky filled with stars. I had managed to slip away to go camping and was treasuring the stillness. That afternoon I had watched woodpeckers skirting around the trees and heard the rustle of squirrels through underbrush. It was March, but it felt like October. The trees were bare and the ground littered with leaves. …
Body of Brokenness
Read: 1 Corinthians 12:21-26 The eye cannot say to the hand, “I have no need of you.” (v. 21) In my friend Mary’s old town, her church often asked her to read Scripture and serve Communion. But in her new town, she was never asked. The longer she attended her new church, the more she felt she didn’t belong. Despite Mary’s many gifts—loud projecting voice and deadpan humor, detailed with spreadsheets and being adamant about voting—the people of her new …
Voice Recognition
Read: John 10:22-30 My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me. (v. 27) My elderly mother-in-law recently received a phone call from a man claiming to be her grandson. The man told her that he was out of town and had a run of bad luck. Could she please send him money? She quickly cut him off saying, “Young man. I know my grandson’s voice—and you are most certainly not him. Good day.” Knowing her loved …
Incarnation
Read: John 1:1-18 We have seen his glory, glory as of the only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth. (v. 14) I don’t particularly like being busy, but sometimes it feels unavoidable. It’s easier to let myself become overbooked and overworked and wear my fatigue as a badge of honor. I work with college students, so I have a front row seat to what happens when too little sleep meets a high level of stress. In more …