Obedience to God Feels Like Freedom

Apr 04, 2016

We know exactly what it feels like to be obedient. We toe the line. We do exactly what is expected of us. We follow each and every rule, crossing every “t” and dotting every “I” so that we get it exactly right. This is how we as children had to remember to behave, because it […]

Dealing with Pain and Suffering

Mar 27, 2016

If we come upon a stump of a tree or a felled tree, we can see the rings which tell the story of the tree’s growth. The lighter rings are laid down in the spring when there is plenty of water and the darker ones laid down in the summer and even early autumn. The […]

Eden and the kingdom

Feb 22, 2016

One way to look at our lives here on Earth is that we are born out of Eden into a land of free will. I know—I am altering the Biblical story in Genesis a bit! But Genesis Chapter 3 seems to me to be suggestive at least that Adam and Eve ruined our chances here […]

Levels of Prayer

Jan 04, 2016

Sometimes it seems so simple: we surrender our lives to Christ and then….everything is good. But the reality is different, with that first surrender we are just making the first steps on a journey that takes us from extreme attachment to the world’s ways to connecting deeply to God’s ways. And it is not an […]

Born Again

Dec 28, 2015

Our choices in life come down to this bottom line: will I continue to feed my ego or will I choose to uncover the deeper, truer self within me, the soul? It’s the world where the ego belongs vs. God where the soul belongs. We are hard-wired to rest with God and there find peace […]

I am a slow learner

Dec 14, 2015

I am a slow learner. It’s taken me years to undo all that my family and the church(hell-fire-and-damnation) and the culture taught me about being in the world and about God. It’s complicated because I was formed by what I was taught about myself and the world and God and, also, how I took what […]

Unshakable Faith

Nov 23, 2015

In December of 2001 my husband’s lymphoma returned with a vengeance, just three short months after his oncologist had declared his CT-scan cancer-free. I think that Hank already knew what the oncologist was affirming; he had been able to sense the changes in his body. As for me I was in complete denial. Hank was […]

Love God with all of Yourself

Nov 16, 2015

“The command to love God is first not simply because it’s most important but because it’s the only commandment. God is One; God is the only one; God is all. How we do anything is how we love God. How we love a neighbor, love a stranger, love an enemy, this is our love of […]

What We Pray For

Nov 09, 2015

If we believe the Gospels, so much of what we pray for has been already given to us; still we continue to pray for God’s promised love and forgiveness. Why do we do that? Do we not trust the record that God has left for us? Here are a few examples of his promises to […]

Accept. Forgive. Embrace.

Nov 02, 2015

When Jesus says we are to love God with all of ourselves and to love our neighbors as ourselves[Mark 12: 28-31], he is showing us the way. And when he says we are to forgive another 70 times [Matthew 18:22], he is telling us to forgive always, that there should be no limit to our […]