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Simon, Simon, Satan has asked to sift you as wheat. But I have prayed for you, Simon, that your faith may not fail. And when you have turned back, strengthen your brothers.Luke 22:31-32 When we are tested on the very truth we declare, we really should not be surprised, but we often are. I wasn’t thinking about this on the day I met Hamida. She had traveled for days from the desert to reach our… Read More

Among other things, mercy is a womb.  A mother’s womb is meant to be a safe place, a sanctuary where new life can begin. An unhurried space, a quiet shelter. A protected refuge where growth happens at exactly the right pace. A nourishing haven, marked by rhythms of rest and movement, development and health. And at the right time, from this wonderful place, birth happens and the world is changed. In Hebrew, this place is… Read More

Yet the news about him spread all the more, so that crowds of people came to hear him and to be healed of their sicknesses. But Jesus often withdrew to lonely places and prayed.Luke 5:15-16 Withdrawing may seem a strange subject during a global pandemic when humans are already withdrawn across the world. But in some ways, forced physical withdrawal has fostered the opposite effect: a frenzied drawing near in non-physical ways. Texting, tweeting, Tik-Toking, You-Tubing, Zooming,… Read More

Come, let us return to the LORD. He has torn us to pieces but he will heal us; he has injured us but he will bind up our wounds.Hosea 6:1 For he wounds, but he also binds up; he injures, but his hands also heal.Job 5:18 I unwrapped the thick bandage slowly, carefully. As it unraveled deeper, closer to the wounds, I could see the blood, my child’s blood, staining the fabric, sticking. The familiar,… Read More

for sw, my safest person The floods have lifted up, O Lord, the floods have lifted up their voice; the floods lift up their waves. The Lord on high is mightier than the noise of many waters, than the mighty waves of the sea.Psalm 93:3-4, NKJV I watched the helicopter rise from the hospital helipad, each thunderous throb of its propellers coursing through my body like a terrible shockwave. We were sitting in a beautiful… Read More

You will keep in perfect peace those whose minds are steadfast, because they trust in you.Isaiah 26:3 Behind every life-changing, heart-gripping event, there is a story beneath the story. It is sometimes never told, at least to the crowds. Rachel Saint, missionary to the jungle peoples of Ecuador, told the story beneath the story of the martyrdom of her brother Nate Saint along with four other missionaries on January 8, 1956. In Ethel Wallace's gem-of-a-book The Dayuma Story,… Read More

For my only true Father in heaven on Father's Day God created humankind in his own image, in the image of God he created them, male and female he created them.Genesis 1:27 We all have a Father, and we were made to look like Him. When we know who He is, we will know who we are. It was almost Halloween, and my mother asked me to climb up in the attic to find the… Read More

Do not despise these small beginnings, for the Lord rejoices to see the work begin.Zechariah 4:10 I lay there in the dark, alert and ready to leap out of bed at any given second. The sound of the rat running back and forth on the bedpost inches from my head had me frozen in place, immobilized and afraid to breathe. What on earth is he carrying in his mouth with such dedication? I wondered to… Read More

Run and tell his disciples, even Peter, that he is risen.Mark 16:7 Even Peter. How curious that the angel sitting in the empty tomb on the Morning of all mornings would emphasize the disciple who denied Jesus in his darkest hour. The angel was a servant messenger of the Most High God, and he was doing just what the Master had instructed. His words conveyed Jesus’ heart. Do not forget Peter especially. He needs to… Read More

for Erick George Floyd, you were caught trying to buy a pack of cigarettes with a counterfeit $20 bill, according to the news reports. As you placed that bill on the counter in hopes of getting one more drag from a cigarette you had no idea you stood on the razor-fine edge of a precipice, your life an inflection point for an entire nation. You had no clue you would soon ignite an honor outcry.… Read More