Gaining a heart of wisdom
After holding babies close, Holding hands on the walk to the mailbox, Holding feet to the fire, Holding loosely to the ones who have left the nest (Say it and say it until you believe it: "roots and wings," "roots and wings"), My hands and heart are learning the contours of a new holding: An… Continue reading Each Day By Name
If my sons are reading the Amazon reviews of Sugar-free Gummy Bears out loud together and laughing hysterically, should I be grateful that they are reading and laughing together -- or should I snarl and hand them each a reprimand and a text book? Such are the dilemmas of the back-to-homeschooling experience here in the Morin compound,… Continue reading September Musings – 2016
It must have seemed as if his life was over. At the age of fifteen, swept up in the aftermath of his country's demise, in a series of cruel blows, he was enslaved, deported eight hundred miles -- never to see his homeland again, stripped of his identity, and given a strange and foreign name.… Continue reading Move Heaven. Change Nations.
He walked into the bank, obviously carrying a heavy load, and wearing a proud smile. "I can help you over here," I chirped in my newly fluent teller-ese, and the white plastic bucket landed with a thud on the counter. He had personally counted and rolled over five thousand pennies and was bringing his loot… Continue reading Musings – June 2016
So many books. So little time. Tozer is my "undiscovered author," and it's not as if I haven't delighted in brief quotations of his words -- a mix of the understated and the profound. It is even true that portions of his sermons read online have jolted me awake to God's holiness and drawn me closer to the… Continue reading A.W. Tozer: Thoughts on Prayer
In this election year, I've heard it said that foreign policy doesn't fit on a bumper sticker. True enough, and I would go on to say that theology doesn't either, but that doesn't stop us from trying to put it there. One bumper sticker that's been around for decades reads: "Prayer Changes Things." You've… Continue reading Where Faith and History Intersect
We refer to them as "spiritual disciplines," and then we stiffen our upper lip -- all the while fumbling tentatively for our boot straps. Then, we proceed to dismiss the more rigorous of the lot (fasting, meditation) as pertinent only to high-power spiritual giants, and it turns out that we've got the wrong idea after all,… Continue reading Habits of Grace
Traveling to over forty different countries, meeting church leaders who are, at times, risking their lives in the course of doing ministry, and hearing their unique challenges and joys can be an exhausting prospect. Fortunately, Brian Stiller has logged all the travel time, and he has shared his unique experiences and insights in An Insider's Guide to Praying… Continue reading Intercede with Greater Focus and Understanding
Proverbs has always been a challenging read for me. My brain wants to make outlines, and it searches in vain for a tidy way to summarize the truth of a chapter. Proverbs 1 and 2 cooperate nicely: wisdom. However, the following chapters veer off into multiple topics, and my takeaway from reading this valuable wisdom literature is that… Continue reading The Beginning of Wisdom
Five and a half years ago our family piled into a mini-van and drove cross country -- Maine to Seattle, south to Arizona, and then in a zig-zagging joy ride back to Maine. Four boys, two parents, one tent, six sleeping bags, and five weeks of freedom on the road. It becomes a better memory… Continue reading Grant Us Grace to Ask
Living Our Days 