Don’t Wait
If possible, so far as it depends upon you, be at peace with all men. Romans 12:18 NASB I’ve been pondering regrets about words I didn’t say – words of encouragement or apology or gratitude or forgiveness that I failed to communicate in a timely manner. When my Daddy died, he was all there until the end. He understood everything I wanted to tell him. Even so, I had regrets. I wished I could ask him more questions about his life and thought and dreams and values. Why hadn’t I done more of that when he was able to think and speak well? In his last months, he no...
Read MoreAcquiring Humility in Prayer
Brethren, I do not regard myself as having laid hold of it yet; but one thing I do: forgetting what lies behind and reaching forward to what lies ahead, I press on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus. Philippians 3:13 NASB I desire to practice prayer in a way that respects all that God has said to us on prayer. I’ve been on this quest since high school. I’d like to share two early experiences of prayer with you here. In 1976, Ron Hasegawa was my husband’s roommate. Ron and Kent shared a two-bedroom apartment on College Avenue while Kent was in grad school....
Read MoreAdvent Reflection
Since you have in obedience to the truth purified your souls for a sincere love of the brethren, fervently love one another from the heart. 1 Peter 22a NASB Carols have begun! On the last day of November, I wheeled Mom down to a Christmas concert at Emerald Heights. Residents were singing and playing ukuleles. It was my first group carol sing of the season though I’ve been singing Christmas carols with/to Mom since before Thanksgiving. Advent is all the things I love about Christmas with none of the Excessmas. It’s a good news time. An angel said it, “Behold, I bring you good news of...
Read MorePopsicle Sticks
Let us not lose heart in doing good, for in due time we will reap if we do not grow weary. So then, while we have opportunity, let us do good to all people . . Galatians 6:10 NASB It was a brisk fall morning with a hint of rain in the air. I was delivering fruit and salsa to church for a brunch I wouldn’t attend. While decluttering, I had come upon a plastic baggie of popsicle sticks. Good memories of these sticks came to mind, so I popped them into my bag for the trip to church. On each popsicle stick was written the name of a family member. While driving along quiet streets, I drew out...
Read MoreAcknowledge Him
Trust in the Lord with all your heart and do not lean on your own understanding. In all your ways, acknowledge Him, and He will make your paths straight. Proverbs 3:5 NASB The idea of acknowledging God in all my ways has been popping into my mind, particularly when I head out the door. On the way to visit my mom, I think, I acknowledge you, Lord. I never know what kind of visit it will be. But God does. Or at the beginning of a day with the grandkids. I acknowledge you, Lord. It’s good to renew my trust and actually speak my dependence on God. So it was, as Kent and I headed out...
Read MoreOne Blood: Parting Words to the Church on Race
Therefore if anyone is in Christ, this person is a new creation; the old things passed away; behold, new things have come. Now all these things are from God, who reconciled us to Himself through Christ and gave us the ministry of reconciliation, namely, that God was in Christ reconciling the world to Himself, not counting their wrongdoings against them, and He has committed to us the word of reconciliation. 2 Cor 5:18-19 NASB This is the fourth in a series of reflections on books read by the Creekside Book Club. John Perkins wrote One Blood: Parting Words to the Church on Race at the age of...
Read MoreGod Bless Orpah
But Ruth said, “Do not urge me to leave you, or turn back from following you; for where you go, I will go, and where you lodge, I will lodge. Your people shall be my people, and your God my God.” (Ruth 1:16 NASB) Yes, the title is spelled correctly (although God bless Oprah, too!). Orpah was a young widow. She married an Israelite man named Chilion, who had taken refuge in Moab with his parents and brother during a famine. But disasters struck, leaving Orpah, her mother-in-law Naomi, and her sister-in-law Ruth all widows. Widows are notorious for poverty in the Bible. How were they to...
Read MoreSeeking Stories
“Ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you. For everyone who asks receives, and the one who seeks finds, and to the one who knocks it will be opened.” (Matthew 7:7-8 NASB) I like to drive around. As I’m driving, I see people everywhere. On 166th Ave, two girls are pushing bicycles up the hill. A tall person all in black with hood and mask is striding down the hill. On 85th, a person with straggly hair and beard is driving a motorized wheelchair. I don’t know their stories. On 520 east to Seattle, a sleek, sporty, black car roars past me....
Read MoreAs Outsiders to Outsiders
Devote yourselves to prayer, keeping alert in it with an attitude of thanksgiving; praying at the same time for us as well, that God may open up to us a door for the word, so that we may speak forth the mystery of Christ… Conduct yourselves with wisdom toward outsiders, making the most of the opportunity. (Ephesians 4:2-3, 5 NASB) Last Sunday, nine Creeksiders—six adults and three rambunctious young boys (all related)—went prayer-walking in the neighborhood around Creekside’s property on 173rd. Pastor Mark advised us to conduct ourselves with wisdom as we headed out by saying, “Don’t cluster...
Read MorePopper Weeds
“Listen to this! Behold, the sower went out to sow; as he was sowing, some seed fell beside the road, and the birds came and ate it up. Other seed fell on the rocky ground where it did not have much soil; and immediately it sprang up because it had no depth of soil. And when the sun had risen, it was scorched; and because it had no root, it withered away. Other seed fell among the thorns, and the thorns came up and choked it, and it yielded no crop. Other seeds fell into the good soil, and as they grew up and increased, they yielded a crop and produced thirty, sixty, and a hundred times as...
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