My Grace Needs Help
I’ve heard and sung about God’s amazing grace all my life. Though we make mistakes and have not-nice attitudes and are weak in our faithfulness to Him and others, He loves us deeply anyway. Grace — His unmerited favor — is always helping us in our weaknesses. “But He said to me, ‘My grace is…
A Little Chat about Grace
I live in God’s grace. I just know it. We all do! No matter what kind of mistake(s) we make, there is always a solution for restitution. It comes in the form of grace. It is God’s grace that heals and restores. He exchanges our tarnished slate for a fresh, clean slate so we can…
Real or an Illusion
Where in the world would you go to celebrate an anniversary? How about Boulder City, Nevada and seeing the Hoover Dam where it’s hot hot hot? But, when you have cousins who live there in a gorgeous home overlooking majestic mountains, the desert and Lake Mead, you welcome the blessing! Covered in sunscreen and being…
Ring of Fire
As I sit here humming Johnny Cash’s “Ring of Fire,” I can’t help but think about the many rings of fire that touch our lives. Johnny sang of a love so fierce it felt like flames. Couples wear rings that symbolize their promises to forever love each other through all of life’s seasons. A few…
But First, Let Me Thank God
Headlines: Boston Celtics coach wears shirt thanking God after team wins record-setting NBA title. It was a great season for our Dallas Mavericks, but the big win in the 2024 NBA Finals last Monday, June 17th, was claimed by the Boston Celtics and Head Coach Joe Mazzulla. It was the Celtics’ first title since 2008…
The Sweet Payoff of Love
Wednesday night, at our church’s family dinner (a weekly blessing), we sat across from the cutest couple who married in December. He is 90 years old; she is 86. They are just recently out and about because three days before they married, she fell, broke her nose and required stitches from her nose to her…
The Comparison Trap
Back to that colonoscopy that I had last Friday. My male nurse introduced me to the student nurse who was going to put in the I-V. “Uh-oh!”, I thought. I didn’t resist, but I had my doubts. First, I hear the head nurse say, “That’s a #22 needle. I think you need to use a…
Are We Good at “Christianing”?
We, Christian (Christ-like) folks think we’re decent people. You know what I mean. We have all those “good” things to our credit: going to church, tithing, giving offerings, wearing a cross necklace, attending a Bible Study, volunteering for a charity. How could anyone think we are anything but rock-solid believers? I thought of myself as…
God’s Amazing Grace….and Ours
Aw! The good, unmerited, and amazing grace of God. We know it well! BUT….what about OUR grace? I started thinking about Paul the Apostle’s words:“Let your conversation be always FULL OF GRACE, seasoned with salt, so that you may know how to answer everyone.” Colossians 4:6 Our words – full of grace? We hear someone…
The Demise of the Worry Wart
A worry wart is someone who tends to spend way too much time on – well…worrying — having anxious thoughts about this and that. That’s most often not me! I don’t let myself go there. But, still, there are people issues, car issues, financial issues, and health issues that creep in our minds that trouble…