Gaining a heart of wisdom
About twenty-six years ago, a handsome young man in a tux stood before me and recited loving words of commitment that began like this: “Michele, joining my life with yours in the covenant of marriage . . .” And so our love story began with strong promises about loving and listening, respecting and revering. By… Continue reading A Love Like No Other
The new year is off to a great start! The boys are applying themselves to their school work (most of the time), we've followed through on our goal to be more hospitable (and it's been great fun!), there have been lots of positive comments on the blog (thank you!), and the adorable grandboy was here for… Continue reading Encourage One Another
Four days into 2016 and already my resolve is being tested. Maybe that's true for you as well, and as unsettling as it is to encounter our own lack of self-discipline or perseverance, it is certainly a helpful perspective to bring to the study of Hebrews 2:14-18. When Jesus took on the constraints of a body,… Continue reading The Endless Downward Pull of Temptation
Pull your chair a little closer to the table and join us for a study in The Epistle to the Hebrews, a letter to a congregation of struggling Jewish Christians written by an unknown author sometime before the destruction of Jerusalem in 70 A.D. My class and I will be landing on a few… Continue reading God Has Spoken
I love a decisive verb, and when it appears in the setting of a solid, declarative sentence? Well, so much the better. When autumn rolls around my mind returns to the pronouncements in Isaiah 12, because I studied and memorized it in the season of bright leaves and stiff breezes. The prophet's bracing words stood up to… Continue reading Giving Thanks Is a Choice
Whenever I read Psalm 125, I am in awe of this unnamed author’s trusting words: 1-5 Those who trust in God are like Zion Mountain: Nothing can move it, a rock-solid mountain you can always depend on. Mountains encircle Jerusalem, and God encircles his people— always has and always will. (The Message) The image is one… Continue reading A Confident Faith
In a meandering, three-way conversation with far-away friends, we began to ponder the term: just exactly what does it mean to be "reformed"? Without thinking, certainly with no editorial or theological censors in place, I said, "I would, actually, rather say that I'm reforming!" After that conversation, the statement lingered in memory and wafted its way into… Continue reading Just One Thing: Reforming
I'll admit it. I can be just a teensy bit compulsive about my daily to-do list. Could this be why it does my heart good to see that God has included lists in the Bible? Chapters eleven and twelve of Nehemiah are, essentially, a series of lists: leaders (v. 3); members of the tribes of… Continue reading Just One Thing: Order
The weather here in Maine is warming. Bright green daffodil leaves, the tiny nose of a hyacinth peeking out of the ground, goldfinches mobbing the birdfeeder, and the sound of spring peepers in the early darkness are all telling me that it's time . . . Time to get out my summer clothes. After a long… Continue reading Just One Thing: Change
Since I'm on vacation this week with the family, it seems good to pause and look at a "big picture" theme that is prevalent in Nehemiah. Early in my preparation for this study, I ran into the statistic that 11% of the book of Nehemiah is prayer, and now that we've made it through chapter nine's longest prayer… Continue reading Just One Thing: Prayer
