Latest Posts

Out of the Stump

Out of the stump of David’s family will grow a shoot—yes, a new Branch bearing fruit from the old root. Isaiah 11:1 I named him Oliver, and he was the cutest olive tree I’d ever seen. Sitting brave in his hand-hewn pot right in the middle of the village market, he seemed to be expecting me. I bought him immediately and took him home to live on my terrace.  Day after day, I tended him.… Read More

Compassion That Never Fails

Because of the Lord’s great love we are not consumed, for his compassions never fail. Lamentations 3:22 Compassion is directly connected to power. Our human power has limits. For some, compassion can morph into workaholism and exhaustion. Others, looking at the widespread trauma in the world today, feel powerless to help at all. Then compassion becomes despair. Despair becomes avoidance, even as the needs of the world grow greater. There is a compassion that never… Read More

Be Still in His Presence

Be still in the presence of the Lord, and wait patiently for him to act. Psalm 37:6 The last thing I want to do is be still. I have so much to do, so many tasks mounting, so many urgencies clamoring. How can I possibly be still? Is that even responsible? In some circumstances, being still is life-saving. Reminds me of a true story, as usual.  The sun shone like joy as I made my… Read More

Burden Bearer

And Solomon assigned 70,000 men to bear burdens… 2 Chronicles 2:2 There are projects in God’s kingdom that cannot be completed without burden bearers. The stones hewn from the mountain would not carry themselves. They could not assemble themselves into towering walls forming Solomon’s glorious temple. They needed strong arms to carry them. To think burden-bearing may be one’s assignment! We talk much about laying burdens down. But some burdens are purposed for God's glory.… Read More

Too Heavy to Carry

for Sarah, and all whose bag is too heavy to carry. This is my blood of the covenant, which is poured out for many for the forgiveness of sins.  Matthew 26:28   Let the beloved of the Lord rest secure in him, for he shields him all day long, and the one the Lord loves rests between his shoulders. Deuteronomy 33:12   There is a river whose streams make glad the city of God, the… Read More

Stay Near

I will instruct you and teach you in the way you should go; I will counsel you with my eye upon you. Be not like a horse or a mule, without understanding, which must be curbed with bit and bridle, or it will not stay near you. Psalm 32:9 I met a remarkable horse I called Lovey recently. She was clearly trained to draw near and stay near when called. She looked me in the… Read More

Crushed

Awake, north wind, and come, south wind! Blow on my garden, that its fragrance may spread everywhere. Song of Songs 4:16   But thanks be to God, who in Christ always leads us in triumphal procession, and through us spreads the fragrance of the knowledge of him everywhere. For we are the aroma of Christ to God among those who are being saved and among those who are perishing, to one a fragrance from death… Read More

The Cost of Spring Making

Blessed are those whose strength is in you, in whose hearts are the highways of Zion. As they go through the Valley of Baca they make it a place of springs. Psalm 84:5-6 The desires of our heart, the ones originating in God’s heart, then planted in ours by His hesed love, often come at a cost. To make the Valley of Baca a place of springs is a noble desire. There is much talk… Read More

Until He Does What He Said

I’ve posted watchmen on your walls, Jerusalem. Day and night they keep at it, praying, calling out, reminding God to remember. They are to give him no peace until he does what he said, until he makes Jerusalem famous as the City of Praise. Isaiah 62:1,6-7, MSG She stared up at a straggling strip of plastic trapped in the barbed wire along the top of the gate. Faded birthday balloons once bright and colorful danced… Read More

Little Member

For by the grace given me I say to every one of you: Do not think of yourself more highly than you ought, but rather think of yourself with sober judgment, in accordance with the faith God has distributed to each of you. For just as each of us has one body with many members, and these members do not all have the same function, so in Christ we, though many, form one body, and… Read More