Home Archive by category "Spiritual Growth" (Page 24)

Category: Spiritual Growth

On the Side of the Road of Life

You can travel to far away places to find beauty and to marvel at God’s creation, or you keep an eye out the side window of your car… if you open your eyes, you may be surprised how often you can spot God’s handiwork in your daily routine, and how often you’ll discover glimpses of his creativity just off your usual path. As I did today, on my way home from jury duty. There was barely a place to stop my car and getting across the busy street on foot was a challenge, but it took only five minutes to capture some of this beauty that others were zooming right past. It makes we wonder how much of life we miss because we never stop to look. I know I’ve been one of the hyper-busy ones for years and the cost of not slowing down sooner was high. (All these images can be viewed much larger by simply clicking on them) Sometimes, (and preferably) we pull over in life intentionally to take in some rest and be refreshed by God’s creation – but at other times the car of life breaks down and we are forced to stop and take…

Continue reading

When I say "I am a Christian"

Once in awhile an e-mail forward actually contains something encouraging instead of spams or scams or jokes or urban legends. If you forward this to everyone in your address book, Bill Gates will NOT send you a dollar for each one. And no, nothing bad will happen to you if you don’t e-mail this to ten friends! When I say… “I am a Christian” I’m not shouting “I’m clean livin’.” I’m whispering “I was lost, Now I’m found and forgiven.” When I say… “I am a Christian” I don’t speak of this with pride. I’m confessing that I stumble and need Christ to be my guide. When I say… “I am a Christian” I’m not trying to be strong. I’m professing that I’m weak And need His strength to carry on. When I say… “I am a Christian” I’m not bragging of success. I’m admitting I have failed And need God to clean my mess. When I say… “I am a Christian” I’m not claiming to be perfect, My flaws are far too visible But, God believes I am worth it. When I say… “I am a Christian” I still feel the sting of pain. I have my share of…

Continue reading

From Foolishness to Final Forgiveness

I don’t often post e-mail forwards, but I enjoyed this so much, I just had to share it. I love alliteration, and this little story takes the cake! The Final Fixing of the Foolish Fugitive “Feeling footloose, fancy-free, and frisky, this feather-brained fellow finagled his fond father into forking over his fortune. Forthwith, he fled for foreign fields and frittered his farthings feasting fabulously with fair-weather friends. Finally, facing famine, and fleeced by his fellows in folly, he found himself a feed flinger in a filthy farmlot. He fain would have filled his frame with foraged food from the fodder fragments. “‘Fooey! My father’s flunkies fare far fancier,’ the frazzled fugitive fumed feverishly, frankly facing fact. “Frustrated from failure and filled with forebodings, he fled for his family. “Falling at his father’s feet, he floundered forlornly. ‘Father, I have flunked and fruitlessly forfeited further family favors. . .’ “But the faithful father, forestalling further flinching, frantically flagged his flunkies to fetch forth the finest fatling and fix a feast. “But the fugitive’s fault-finding frater, faithfully farming his father’s fields for free, frowned at this fickle forgiveness of former falderal. His fury flashed, but fussing was futile. “His foresighted father figured,…

Continue reading

Baby Luke Headed to Kid U Ohio!

What is Luke doing? Why, he is choosing his workshops for Kid U in Ohio next weekend! He’s excited about the preconference Creativity Blitz and all the awesome presenters that he can learn from. So he is studying the schedule, wondering where he will lodge, checking out the directions and planning to register soon! Don’t have a brochure? You can download one here! OK, now that my director of web operations is proud of all my shameless marketing links, what is the REAL reason Luke wants to go to Kid U? Because it is where he first met me! Yes, it was at Kid U Chicago, this past March that I met this little baby boy for the first time, and as you can see, he loved me at first sight: Well, ok, maybe not… but it is so fascinating to me that at the time of this picture, I had NO IDEA that I would be adopting this precious (screaming) little boy. He wasn’t so excited about Aunt Meepa either! (at least not in this picture) And he even cried for his mom-to-be, though, again, Sara had NO IDEA at the time of this picture that we would soon…

Continue reading

Dreary Day… until you look closely.

Today was one of the hardest days of my life. For the first time in over 18 years I didn’t kick off a new season of Kid’s Church. To make it worse… of course, it rained. The bleary view out my back patio door. Change is difficult. I suppose I should feel some relief from my former hyperbusy hyperacheiver hyperactive hyperministry hyperspeed pace of life… and in many ways I do. But I still miss painfully the things I loved most… and have deep regrets that are still healing. I prayed for one phone call today from one person who might realize what today was and meant to me… but instead, God must have wanted me to feel the emptiness and loneliness of loss. My head understands and is accepting, but my heart is still catching up and has quite a ways to go. One day at a time. One relationship at a time. One prayer at a time. I’ve not allowed myself much time to focus on what these changes in life have cost me – selfishness got me into the mess I got myself into – so I don’t feel entitled to focus on my own losses, but…

Continue reading