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What our Tongues Reveal
Looking at the surface of our tongue can reveal clues to our physical health.[1] Color, texture, bumps, or spots can all be indicators of health issues. But listening to the words from our tongue can reveal our spiritual health. Slandering, boasting, flattering, and complaining are indicators of spiritual issues. You may feel like you have a tight rein on your tongue in public. But what about in private? What about in your thoughts? Maybe it is just certain people that you find your words/thoughts are not gracious. Our words/thoughts reveal what is going on in our hearts which can either bring life or death to their recipients (Prov 18:21). Let’s…
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Shades of White—Part 2
A couple walks through the snowdrifts, clasping the others’ hand, as they slowly make their way through the deep, wet wonderland. With each step they give each other balance, courage, and strength. As they look over their shoulder, they see two pair of footprints, gently mingling with the mud beneath. Bright white snow turned ivory with wear. Ten years ago I posted this just nine days before my wedding day. And I couldn’t help but revisit it. Today Turtullian’s timeless words, penned in the 200s, still hang in our home. Their endurance reminds us what it takes to make a marriage beautiful. How beautiful, then, the marriage of two…
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On the Anniversary of Dad’s Death
“Honor your father and mother,” which is the first commandment accompanied by a promise, namely, “that it may go well with you and that you will live a long time on the earth” (Ephesians 6:2-3). Today is the anniversary of Dad’s death. Dad was a complicated man, to say the least. Recently I was talking to a Christian brother and, essentially, said that when we die it might be said for any of us believers: “He was a Christian… and he was a mess in many ways.” We never outgrow our desperate need for Christ. Anyone who knew my dad knew he had struggles, but they also had no doubt…
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Loving Well in a Blame-shifting Culture
In a home full of young children, among the most common things I hear in the house is why the other sibling is most definitely responsible for wrong doing. Most recently, my eldest son ran up quickly behind my middle son for a sneak attack, smacked him on the bottom and sent him flying further then was intended. I heard the raucous just in time to see my middle son chasing my eldest son with lightning speed, armed with a heavy school backpack, which successfully gave a retribution blow to the fleeing child. Needless to say, as I approached the angry middle son first who had just hauled off and…
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Good House Keeping for the soul: a Word of Encouragement
Sometimes cleaning the house is not pretty. We recently bought a house that had not been lived in for some time. In fact, we learned that the woman who lived here before us was a genuine hoarder. Someone had bought the house, cleaned it up quite a bit and it was totally empty. However…there was still some serious cleaning to do. We opened kitchen drawers to find ancient kitchen towels and cleaning supplies. Of course, we found remnants of bugs, namely roaches. Yeah, no need to go in to detail. Bugs are no fools, so they set up camp in a nice reliable spot, like an unused home. Anyway, suffice…
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Joseph, used by God to preserve a remnant
Genesis 45:1–15 is part of the lectionary readings for the eleventh Sunday after Pentecost, which is August 16th. Genesis 41:53-57 leaves the impression that life was busy and absorbing for Joseph, both personally and professionally. It became even more so as seven years of drought and famine began, for Pharaoh directed his starving population to go to Joseph for the food they needed to survive. The famine extended even to Canaan and affected its inhabitants. Moreover, chapters 42–44 reveal that as the situation worsened throughout the Fertile Crescent, Jacob was forced to send his remaining sons (except for Joseph’s full brother, Benjamin) to Egypt to buy grain for the family.…
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Shame, Jesus, and Me
This month I’m honored to invite my friend and teammate Christian Williams as my guest blogger. I love being in Christian’s company because one minute she’s making me laugh so hard I’m crying and the next she has stopped me in my tracks with a thought-provoking reflection. Christian is a Dallas transplant (Native Arkansan) and DTS student who loves communicating truth and building safe, authentic, purposeful communities. She feels God’s pleasure most when using her imagination, storytelling, teaching, and living in intentional relationships which yield growth and transformation. Dub: (verb) to give an unofficial name or nickname to (someone or something). I dub everything. From my period- I call her…
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Disciples Admit Their Sin
Thailand is known for overloading its vehicles.[1] An overloaded vehicle cannot function properly and is dangerous to the driver and others. Likewise, unconfessed sin overloads us with unnecessary burdens so we do not function as God intended us to function. Confession unloads us.[2] “If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. If we say we have not sinned, we make Him a liar, and His Word is not in us. My little children, I am writing these things to you so that you may not sin. But if anyone does sin, we have an advocate…
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Find Healing for Hurting Hearts
What’s on your New Year’s Resolution list? If your list is a lot like mine, it includes returning to pre-holiday healthier eating habits and making time for exercise several times a week. Those are common resolutions regarding physical fitness. Not so common are resolutions pertaining to our emotional fitness. But I have a book recommendation that might help with your 2020 emotional goals: Healing Every Day: A 90-Day Devotional Journey by Mary DeMuth.
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Keeping Grace at the Holiday Table
When my husband and I would visit my parents, we liked to take bets about how long it would before my Dad would bring up the subject of the driverless car. After all, he was a transportation engineer for more than 3 decades, so he couldn’t help himself. It was fun for us to exchange knowing glances when the conversation really picked up steam, and Dad never disappointed. Time with family can be so fun. It’s often predictable. I have highlighted a pleasant, recurring theme in my family, but I definitely have some recurring behavior that I unleash when I’m with my family that isn’t so sweet or benign. So…
