Testing My Resolution
For you were formerly darkness, but now you are light in the Lord; walk as children of light (for the fruit of the Light consists in all goodness and righteousness and truth), trying to learn what is pleasing to the Lord. (Ephesians 5:8-10) To resolve or not to resolve, that is the question. On the first Sunday of 2019, Pastor Mark asked for a show of hands: “Who makes new year’s resolutions?” I felt like the only person raising her hand. My process of making New Year’s resolutions has changed over the decades. At one time, I made a few SMART goals, often discovering they weren’t so...
Read MoreVeterans Day Musings
There will be… glory and honor and peace to everyone who does good, to the Jew first and also to the Greek. (Romans 2:10b NASB) Hand-lettered “SAVE” signs were placed on the left front row of folding chairs facing the large podium. On the stage raised four feet above the hall were a grand piano, a drum set, and spots for guitar and bass. When I arrived with Mom, she gestured towards a spot in the back. But, no, Trudy Vering, a former navy nurse, hurried over and ushered us to the front row, removing a chair smack in the center for Mom’s wheelchair. We had arrived at the 2019 Veterans Day...
Read MoreThrough the Hard Times and the Good
…for I have learned to be content in whatever circumstances I am. I know how to get along with humble means, and I also know how to live in prosperity… (Philippians 4:11b-12a NASB) A discussion in our sister circle (ladies bible study) last week set me pondering. We were asking the question, “Do hard times draw us closer to God?” If God delights in blessing His children, surely He hasn’t constructed a universe where His kids can only enjoy Him when they’re suffering. But since our world is so marked with suffering, surely the blessings of God, whatever that means, ought to be available to...
Read MoreDwell in the Land
“Build houses and settle down; plant gardens and eat what they produce. Marry and have sons and daughters; find wives for your sons and give your daughters in marriage, so that they too may have sons and daughters. Increase in number there; do not decrease. Also, seek the peace and prosperity of the city to which I have carried you into exile. Pray to the Lord for it, because if it prospers, you too will prosper.” (Jeremiah 29:5-7 NIV) On a weekend trip to Lake Wenatchee, my family made ourselves a home in campsite #23 at the state park. We set up two tents, six sleeping pads and six...
Read MoreTrust Me
Pray, then, in this way: “Our Father, who is in heaven, hallowed be Your Name. Your kingdom come, Your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread. Forgive us our debts as we also have forgiven our debtors. And lead us not into temptation but deliver us from evil.” (Matthew 6:9-13 NASB) On July 3rd mid-afternoon, my dad is sitting up, covered with warmed blankets in room 4012, on the fourth floor of the Silver Tower at Evergreen Hospital. His room faces south, where the old Totem Lake Mall now hosts the county bird—(construction) cranes, hard at work lifting...
Read MoreHonoring My Mothers and Fathers
My neighborhood group just finished our study of Beginnings, the first five books of the Bible: Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, Deuteronomy. A common discussion thread the whole time was, “What is the relevance of this ancient law and society to us?” Concurrent with our Bible study has been working out my primary New Year’s resolution of honoring my mother this year, as she turns 100. These two seemingly different streams are closely connected in my mind with a call to honor those who came before us, to whom we owe a debt of gratitude. Honoring my mother has consisted of spending time...
Read MoreThree Times Hosanna
“But if the Spirit of Him who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, He who raised Christ Jesus from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through His Spirit who dwells in you.” (Romans 8:11 NASB) A year ago, on Palm Sunday, our two grandsons were staying with us and joined us at church. They loved walking around waving palm branches. I lapped up Pastor Mark’s sermon on “hosanna,” a Hebrew word that can mean, “He saves, He saved, Save us!, He will save us.” (The sermon is on our website titled “Follow Me Into Death”.) Just two days later, the littlest grandson went to the ER...
Read MoreBoth Sides (S)now
Has the rain a father? Or who has begotten the drops of dew? From whose womb has come the ice? And the frost of heaven, who has given it birth? Water becomes hard like stone, And the surface of the deep is imprisoned. (Job 38:28-30 NASB) Snow is polarizing. On the one side, when those flakes start falling, there’s hope and delight in the hearts of most school-age children. (Just today, after two and a half weeks of snow, my grandson cheered at the thought of more!) On the other side, there’s foreboding in the heart of many a parent, or anyone who has to walk to catch a bus, or who lives on a...
Read MoreDon’t Skip to the End
Come now, you who say, “Today or tomorrow, we shall go to such and such a city, and spend a year there and engage in business and make a profit.” Yet you do not know what your life will be like tomorrow. You are just a vapor that appears for a little while and then vanishes away. Instead, you ought to say, “If the Lord wills, we shall live and also do this or that.” (James 4:13-15 NASB) In February 2018, Kent and I read a book called Everything Happens for a Reason (and Other Lies I’ve Loved), a memoir by Kate Bowler. The book describes the author’s intense year battling Stage Four colon...
Read MoreBroken Ribs and A Place in Heaven
(Note: There will be no FYI next week. May your Christmas celebrations be blessed by the knowledge of Emmanuel, God With Us. See you in the new year!) “Do not let your heart be troubled; believe in God, believe also in Me. In My Father’s house are many dwelling places; if it were not so, I would have told you, for I go to prepare a place for you. If I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and receive you to Myself, that where I am, there you may be also.” (John 14:1-3 NASB) I had been feeling sad for some weeks, but it seemed to come to a head last week. On Monday, my...
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