Some years ago we lived on the Chesapeake Bay. We had a dry well on our property which my husband felt would once again produce water. However, even after digging for hours it remained as it was: dry. You could pour water into it but none would return; the water would just sink into the surface of the bottom. When Peter asked how many times he was to forgive, Jesus taught him the principle that forgiveness has no limit or end. It is like a well with that is dry. We must pour our words of forgiveness into it and let them float to the bottom of that trespass or resentment one apology after another with-no-end!

I took my first health care job in a pediatric facility over twenty years ago. The new job came with plenty of stress. They expected the doctors to use heavy sedative doses to get children to cooperate so they could crank out procedures and turn big profits.

In an ever-changing culture that seems anchorless and chaotic with no moral compass, this rootless tree on Highway #290 en route to our town, grabs my attention.

In its rootlessness is a metaphor that speaks of the end result of living without the soul nourishing awareness of God and His Presence. With no anchor or guidance cultural impact is very disconcerting, scary depressing and hopeless, especially if you only focus on the dead tree.

My husband Ray knew something was wrong as soon as he got out of bed.

His lower back, where he'd had back surgery six weeks before, was wet. His t-shirt was wet. The sheet was wet. His fingers glistening with a strange wetness from reaching back to investigate, he asked me to check what was going on. I saw a rivulet of fluid pouring out of the top of his surgical incision. Something was really, really wrong.

The chaos of our house on a summer day distracted me in every way. 

My boys trampled through the rooms like jousting hyenas. The crusted breakfast plates sat in the sink, the dryer signaled for me to fold laundry, and my two-year-old kept crying and whining—over nothing. I wanted to scream (or run away).

So, I picked up my phone and scrolled Instagram.

Oh, the beautiful pictures. The sweet sayings. The pep-talk quotes.  But then, the Spirit of God whispered a gentle question: “What are you looking for?”

“You, Lord,” I replied in my mind.

“I’m right here,” the Spirit responded within.

Oh. Right.

So, I set down the phone and prayed. My heart settled. Peace and clarity returned.

Sometimes distraction starts to dry up our relationship with God. How can we focus?

“I’m such a people-pleaser,” she muttered, swatting another tear from her cheek like it was some pesky insect. Throughout our conversation she’d quoted from the plethora of materials that rail against “the sin of people-pleasing.” With a tone of indignation thinly-veiling her self-loathing, she now cited Paul: “If I were still trying to please man, I would not be a servant of Christ” (Gal 1.10).

I listened as this precious woman questioned her loyalty to Christ, convinced that a true follower would never desire something so base as pleasing people. I empathized, then unplugged my grenade...Tick…Tick…Tick…and hurled my question into the air:

“People pleasing. It’s a sin?”

Tick…Tick…BOOM!

Often when the subject of young adults as a demographic arises, we hear negative descriptors like “snowflakes” and “pampered” and “religiously indifferent.” But are these actually true of most young people in the US today? Researchers Tim Clydesdale and Kathleen Garces-Foley in their new book The Twentysomething Soul: Understanding the Religious and Secular Lives of American Young Adults (Oxford University Press) say no. And they provide hard data to back up their assertion.

“I have a relationship with the Lord, I’m still a Christian I just don’t do CHURCH anymore.” This is the frequent cry of the wandering diaspora of detached believers. There are typically two things that contribute to the lone soldier syndrome in the Christian faith: intense cultural individuality, and what many people call “church hurt.”  While both are genuinely felt by many yet neither are biblical excuses to neglect “meeting together.” (Hebrew 10:24-25)

Do you feel sometimes that you are just spinning like a top and nothing will stop the spinning? Life is going well. You’re doing your job faithfully, whatever it is. Then you get blindsided. The world starts spinning. It doesn’t seem like it will ever stop. Where do you go to find security when life hits like that? Where do you get the courage to keep going?

The Bible teaches that we can face life’s realities with courage and peace by entrusting ourselves and our loved ones to a God who loves us dearly. I believe that you and I can learn to do just that. How do we learn it? We can learn it by watching and listening to Jesus.