BEAUTIFUL NAME

The line was long in the store where I was changing out my Wi-Fi router. All masked up and standing on the designated spot, I was practicing patience while waiting. Although I had been in the store earlier that day—two necessary trips to the store—I refrained from being frustrated.

GUARDED

Do you sometimes feel alone in your Christian faith while the world around you takes great pleasure in criticizing your beliefs? It is challenging to stand firm during these days of turmoil in our world while this long-lasting pandemic has become a reality and has robbed us of normalcy.

HIGHER CHOICE

It astounds me that Apostle Peter wrote these words while in prison in Rome eighteen months before he was sentenced to be executed. The fifth ruler of the Roman Empire, Nero, was unsurpassed in his cruel behavior. Surely Peter knew his death was imminent when he wrote the New Testament letters.

YEAR OF TURMOIL—2020

Negative emotions are hard to shake off now. Impatience, worry, fear, fatigue, depression and anxiety are real. Many of us are starting to look inward too much.

I know this to be true because I am feeling these feelings right now!

Rest

The trio is back…the mother, the father and their fledgling Cardinals. They regularly visit the platform bird feeder. I like to study their interactions. The fledgling softly chirps while fluffing and vibrating his feathers. Mom and Dad gather seed and pop it into his mouth until the ritual is complete. The youngster looks completely capable of feeding himself. After all, he’s standing among the same birdseed as his parents! Like me, though, he prefers to be fed rather than feed himself.

Who am I?

At first his eyes were wide with fright as he hid behind our little hinny, a cross between a male horse and a female donkey. His odd head and tail confused me when he first showed up in our pasture. His owner retrieved him multiple times, but finally just gave up since this odd-looking animal had claimed our hinny and her pasture as his home.

Perseverance and Praise

Wow! I guess it’s not a weed!

I’d sprayed it, trimmed it with scissors, even mowed it multiple times…yet it persevered. Regardless of how I mistreated it, this intruder sent tendrils upward, outward and onward while it clung to the bank of the pond. Now, in a different season of the year, an abundance of tiny pink blossoms brought delight to that same muddy shoreline.

A Heart for Worship

I could hear Mother’s soft giggle at Aunt Annie’s small country funeral as the soloist sang, “In the Garden.” Mother’s dementia had claimed her speech, so her giggle blessed me. Then, when her alto voice joined in on the chorus, my heart overflowed! As Daddy patted her leg and told her to stop singing, I whispered, “Aunt Annie would love this. Let’s let her sing.” And did she sing—all four choruses! That was the last time I heard my mother speak. It’s now a treasured memory of her praising His name.

Adrift

“Oh no, that baby turtle is way out in the middle,” I cried. “It should swim closer to shore where the water is shallow!” My granddaughter and I watched that hatchling paddle onward toward the deeper water. I feared for the little turtle until I realized, “No turtle ever worries about how deep the water is!” God designs turtles to swim, and this baby swam toward the deep water with confidence.

The Fire Dancer

I watched from the front row as the man lit himself on fire and danced around. Yes, he was a stunt performer doing this at a beachside show.

Yet I wondered what made him do it. Whatever the hotel paid him, I couldn’t imagine that it was enough to justify walking on fire.

The Wanderer

Luna was “ours” for about a month.

We found her meowing just outside our door.

This wasn’t the first time we’d seen Luna. Sometimes she would lay around our porch. She had a collar, and we knew she had a family — just down the street.

Problem Solver

A popular affirmation parents use with their children these days goes like this, “Way to be a problem solver. Great job solving that problem yourself.” While one cannot debate the value of problem solving and thinking for oneself, God asked the Israelites to do just the opposite – let him solve their problem.

Pharaoh

I found it troubling as I read through the book of Exodus how many times Pharaoh changed his mind about letting the Israelites go. I kept wondering why chapter after chapter.

Our Champion

Have you ever just flat out found yourself down in the dumps? I have.

That is exactly how the children of Israel felt in the early chapters of Exodus. Their unbearable circumstances of slavery led them to despondency.

Three Women of Faith

Rahab the prostitute, seen in Joshua 2 and 6, is identified as a woman of faith in Hebrews 11:31. If Rahab were asked, “How would you define faith?” I think she might say something like this:

Faith comes from hearing about God and believing in Him. My people and I were told of how the God of Israel parted the Red Sea, delivering His people. We heard how Yahweh empowered His people to defeat mighty nations. When I heard these stories, I knew they were true. My faith was born. Later when two Israeli spies came to my door, I knew I had to act on my faith in God and protect them, even at risk to my own life. That’s what faith is. It’s acting upon your beliefs, it’s standing alone, and it’s moving forward as God leads, even when risks are involved. It’s being willing to lay down your life in order to follow the one true Lord.