All I want to be when I grow up is the me God imagines.
Right about now...7:12ish PM on February 18th, I ought to be standing in the pulpit of Crewe UMC with a cross of ashes on my forehead to reflect on the words we should have just heard. My favorite words, the words I most often choose to say are "from dust you came, and to dust …
Receive. This is a hard one today. At nine o'clock tonight, we arrived at Nathan's grandparents house, received as we have been so many times before. But instead of the pure joy that receives us, we were received into a mix of joy that we are here, gratitude that we could come, and grief. Tonight …
So yesterday's post on Abundance did not happen on time because we received a call that has us on the road back to Iowa. As we are traveling today, I am thinking about abundance especially in conjunction with All Saints Sunday. When I think about abundance I think about the abundance of love that I …
The Young Clergy Women's project of which I am blessed to be a part has put out a "photo a day" Challenge for the month of November. Since I have failed horribly with taking pictures of words in the past I thought I would try spending a few minutes at the end of each day …
It was rainy day. We were sitting at our timeshare in Williamsburg, VA with nothing planned except enjoying each other. So we decided to break out a puzzle our eight year old has been wanting to do for awhile. Its a complicated one with pieces that are not exactly normal puzzle shapes. With 1500 peices, …
Continue reading "The Kingdom of God is like a pile of puzzle pieces"
Often time, when a church member is struggling with dying, hospice, the nurses or I as the pastor, will coach the family to offer love and forgiveness and give permission to their loved one. Many times I have sat at a bedside telling someone it is okay to no longer fight, to go quietly …
My three year old came home from daycare the other day singing all the words to what sounded like a very complicated song. It wasn't until she got the chorus that I realized she had learned Frozen's "Let It Go" word for word along with intonations and hand gestures. "Snow blows white on the mountain …
The last couple of "church growth" type trainings I have been to offered many different workshops with ideas of things that have been wildly successful at helping other churches grow. I walked away with lots of ideas that were really creative and innovative and wrong for my congregations/context. The problem with these workshops was not …
Someone in the crowd said to him, “Teacher, tell my brother to divide the inheritance with me.” (Luke 12:13 NIV) I have a confession to make. This week my family and I have been taken care of in ways I am certain we do not deserve or at least that I do not deserve. God …
Someone (I believe it was my father) once told me that the problem with raising strong, independent daughters was that you got strong, independent daughters. Now living with five strong, independent daughters I completely sympathize with this statement. (Hey dad, at least you only had one!) There are a number of days when I think …
Continue reading "We should have strong independent churches too…"
