Taking Hebron

This morning my little sister got up earlier than the others and was out in the garage (where my dad was) coloring. Not knowing what to draw, Alexis got out a coloring book and began to flip through the pages. She found one she liked but was disappointed to find that one of her littler siblings had already done a good scribble job of gray on the picture. She continued through the pages but didn't find anything. Then on her second time through she stopped at this same picture she'd been drawn to the first time and decided she was going to color it anyway. Beneath that ugly gray cloud she saw something beautiful. My mom told me when Alexis picks out which Dark Horses of the Week she's going to pray for at the children's "group time" before school in the morning, she doesn't pick the ones with the most appealing "physical" features. She picks the ones with burns, deformities, visible special needs and then she loves them in heartfelt prayer....

There are certain topics people don't talk about. Most socially aware people know which ones they are and just don't bring them up. Still there is truth to be shared about some of these topics and... well... here we go! Dying isn't something people like to think about, some people are forced to face this sharp and painful reality but for the most part we try and stay on lighter subjects. Why talk about it now? Well a few months ago my mom was giving me an update on her friend who is battling cancer. She told me the situation and I just thought the whole thing seemed very sad. I considered my mom and all the Lord has her doing for His Kingdom in raising my siblings and then I thought about this poor woman of similar age who is battling for her life. It seemed like such a waste of life and I shared these thoughts with the Lord. Then He gave me a simple but profound response. "It's a ministry." What? Being sick a ministry? In our American culture there is a...

Tonight we got home from work a little later than usual and as I stood at the counter eating my supper Alexis came over to give me a little paper card she had made. We opened the card and inside was a zoo of animal stickers all around the edge of the heart. Alexis' imagination painted the scene for me: it was a race, Zebra was in the front but snake was cheating. He was trying to go under Zebra's legs! Hippo was in the back and seal was riding on the "tip-toe" of his fin on Hippo's nose. Seal had a stick to try and stop snake! Then there was Elephant, in the middle of the pack. "Elephant was going." she said simply, then added "He was going as fast as his legs could." I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith. 2 Timothy 4:7 Paul compared following Christ to a race. But it's quite interesting that in 2 Timothy 4:7 he doesn't say I won the race... he finished  the race. Last year I ran ...

For the Word of God is living and powerful, sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing even to the division of soul and spirit, and of joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart. Hebrews 4:12 This was our key verse today in the kid's Bible lesson. We studied about Jesus being tempted by the Devil in the wilderness and how Jesus used the Word to defeat the enemy. Recently I was reading a book and the author shared how she always had a Bible desk. This was a new concept to me, having a whole piece of furniture used solely for your Bible. She'd keep several translations of the Bible, a concordance, study books and a cup of pens on her Bible desk.  She felt as a busy mother, if she had to clear a spot somewhere to open her Bible her study time would be put off. Yet if her Bible was always open and waiting, when she had a pause in the chaos of her day she could sit down for a few minutes to take in His Word. I liked this idea and ...

Jesus, good Shepherd, they are not mine but yours, for I am not mine but yours. I am yours, Lord, and they are yours, because by your wisdom you have created both them and me, and by your death you have redeemed us. So we are yours, good Lord, we are yours, whom you have made with such wisdom and bought so dearly. Then if you commend them to me, Lord, you do not therefore desert me or them. You commend them to me: I commend myself and them to you. Yours is the flock, Lord, and yours is the shepherd. Be Shepherd of both your flock and shepherd. You have made an ignorant [mother, teacher, woman...] a blind leader, an erring ruler: teach the [mother, teacher, woman...] you have established, guide the leader you have appointed, govern the ruler that you have approved. I beg you, teach me what I am to teach, lead me in the way that I am to lead, rule me so that I may rule others. Or rather, teach them, and me through them, lead them, a...