Keep Calm
Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding. (Proverbs 3:5 NIV) This has been an interesting week in the Seattle area and the nation. All of a sudden, cases of COVID-19 are being confirmed, whether they were brought into the USA or locally transmitted. Kirkland has seen the first American deaths from this disease, and although most of them were from older, immunocompromised patients, the fear is that anyone who catches it could die. We’ve seen stores across the area (and country) run out of bottled water,...
read moreThe Beginning of Wisdom
“For the foolishness of God is wiser than human wisdom, and the weakness of God is stronger than human strength.” (1 Corinthians 1:25 NIV) God must be telling me or reminding me something about His wisdom. I had yet to do my Bible study homework on 1 Corinthians by church on Sunday, and I knew that it was something about “Countercultural Unity.” I had completely forgotten that 1 Corinthians 1-4 have several paragraphs about God’s wisdom. The sermon at church last Sunday was on Solomon and what it means to be wise, as this Sunday’s scripture...
read moreThe Both-And Gospel
“And the second is like it: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’ All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments.” (Matthew 22:39-40 NIV, emphasis added) I love to prioritize. I’m not always good at it, but I subscribe to the principle of spending your best brain time focusing on your most important thing. On weekdays, my “ONE thing” is writing: time working on a novel that I’m trying to sell. That might be composing words, editing, brainstorming, planning revisions, or outlining a new story, depending on the stage each of my works...
read moreA Reckless Love Story
Oh, the overwhelming, never-ending, reckless love of God Oh, it chases me down, fights ’til I’m found, leaves the ninety-nine I couldn’t earn it, I don’t deserve it, still You give Yourself away Oh, the overwhelming, never-ending, reckless love of God. (Cory Asbury) Valentine’s Day is coming. Outside the south door of the Redmond Fred Meyer is a display of primroses, red ones forming a huge heart embedded in a frame of the blues. It’s so gorgeous I took a picture. One Valentine’s Day back in the ’90s, my husband Kent went all-in decorating my...
read moreWho is the Proverbs 31 Woman?
A wife of noble character who can find? She is worth far more than rubies. (Proverbs 31:10 NIV) In college, I belonged to a conservative, student-friendly church. While I’m certain I had heard about the “wife of noble character” (the woman described in Proverbs 31:10-31) before, that’s the first time I recall hearing about “the Proverbs 31 woman” or “P31W” as someone I needed to emulate. My friends and I would joke about earning P31W points whenever we did something domestic, like cooking for a bunch of people. Then we would also joke, “So...
read moreThe Persistence of Memory
I will perpetuate your memory through all generations; therefore the nations will praise you for ever and ever. (Psalm 45:17 NIV) I was at the Factoria Mall last weekend, where several businesses have vacated the premises in the last year. I could not help but marvel to myself how different and somewhat deserted the mall seems to have become, a distant atmosphere from the memory of good times and enjoyment. Gone is Goldberg’s Famous Delicatessen, with its wonderful menu and regularly occurring large family dinners. There is no more Regis...
read moreA Cycle of Love
Give thanks to the LORD, for he is good. His love endures forever. (Psalm 136:1 NIV) I just finished listening to Pastor Mark’s sermon on the book of Judges (catch up with the podcast). As a refresher, he mentions the negative cycle of the Israelites and the judges: the people rebel, God is angry, oppression by enemies, the people cry out (repentance), salvation through chosen judge, peace, judge dies, repeat. It’s a prime example of how history repeats itself. I’ve also been studying Acts and the apostles this school year. In Acts 7, Stephen...
read moreBlessed are the Peacemakers
“Blessed are the peacemakers, for they will be called children of God.” (Matthew 5:9 NIV) The first reading in Immerse: Kingdoms, Joshua 1-10, was hard for me. Amidst the inspirational verses about being strong and courageous because the Lord is with us are some brutal directives to destroy whole cities, “leaving no survivors.” Our small group members all agreed that it wasn’t a directive for personal conduct; even at the time, the Israelites were instructed not to murder. But we grappled with various explanations and justifications,...
read moreTesting 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...
read moreGod with Us
“‘The virgin will conceive and give birth to a son, and they will call him Immanuel’ (which means ‘God with us’).” (Matthew 1:23 NIV) From our modern perspective, our familiarity with the Christmas story and the thousands of years of intervening history, it’s hard to imagine what Mary was thinking and feeling on the night she gave birth to the Son of God. Yet we instinctively want to—many songs remind us every December. It seems we all agree that it couldn’t have been easy on her. Besides the discomfort of being pregnant and giving birth—no...
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