A Bulwark Never Failing
A mighty fortress is our God, a bulwark never failing… The first line from this well-known hymn has been stuck in my mind for the past two weeks now. I have no recollection of even hearing it recently, and I certainly don’t know any of the other words to the song by heart. It has been both encouraging and utterly annoying as I find myself just humming and singing this first line over and over and over again. I finally looked it up on YouTube, hoping to have the other lines of the song equally ingrained, but although I have a love for hymns, the archaic language of this one has not lent...
Read MoreChrist, the Solid Rock
When I got the reminder that I was up for the FYI post, I almost responded that I just couldn’t do it. When you consider the pandemic, the economy, and societal race tensions, the world is in perhaps one of its lowest points in my lifetime. I don’t have anything to say that would be helpful, and I have much more work to do before I dare compile thoughts to be sent out on the inter webs. But then I remembered, it’s not about me. As a believer and follower of Jesus Christ, it should always, always be about the Gospel. And that is something I hope I can humbly share. We are in a storm right now...
Read MoreOver and Over
I find it interesting that of all the books of the Bible and of all the topics Mark could have planned out, months ago (long before coronavirus was known to us), he prayed and discerned that this Easter season the focus would be on the parables of Jesus. It is easy to cruise through them, as many of us have heard them multiple times. I myself have read them over and over to my children—sometimes, I admit, with impatience, as I struggle to explain the metaphors. However, the parable that often sticks with me (and coincidentally was on my heart prior to Mark’s sermon), is the parable of the...
Read MoreA Light in the Darkness
To say this past week has felt a bit surreal may be an understatement for a lot of us. I just ended a phone call with a friend after hearing King County’s recent proclamation regarding all things coronavirus. I was cradling the phone between my shoulder and ear so that I could assist my four year old down from a tree (it was raining, I was in slippers), when I exclaimed to her, “I just needed a lifeline to the outside world—this is madness!” I often feel this way as a stay-at-home mom, yet I’m under no pretense that these feelings of isolation are unique to my vocation. When the world seems...
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