I passed this church sign the other day. It said, "Prayer is the next best thing to being there." And I get what they mean...mostly. But, it seemed more like a sure-tell sign of how the Church actually views prayer--as always the "next best thing." Like, "Well, I can't change this, so I guess I'll pray." Or, "I can't help that person, so since there's nothing else, I'll just have to resort to praying. Maybe, maybe that'll be good for something." And I wonder where we get this mentality, because Jesus sure didn't hand it down to us. Jesus portrayed for us a life utterly dependent upon God in prayer. Prayer wasn't something He did as a last resort, or even as the next best thing. Instead, He showed us that prayer is the way we actually live our life. I wonder if this is why[...]

Brent and I, we’re raising this little tribe of kids. It’s the most fulfilling thing I’ve ever experienced and yet the hardest job I’ve ever had. So much of raising kids is trying to teach them how to live together in love. Seems like God provides a family for us, to learn just that. It’s like He knows that if we can learn to love our family—the little brother who’s always crashing our block towers and pulling our hair when he gets mad-- then we’ll be pretty equipped to love the world out there, hateful as it gets sometimes. The family is the best training ground. At least, that’s how it ought to be. It’s meant to be a community of deep knowing and unconditional love. Because who knows you better than the folks who see you first thing, with the morning breath and the bed-head?[...]

Today, we're visiting my Ma and Pa for Thanksgiving break. So, I give you a song from some of my favorite music-makers. Sometimes songs, even on the youtube machine, are like God singing over us. Praying for you this Sunday. May the Lord draw you close to His heart and be your Refuge. Your strength. Your peace. Love, Maggie Putting my pictures together with these healing words... https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f8TkUMJtK5k   You unravel me, with a melody You surround me with a song Of deliverance, from my enemies Till all my fears are gone I'm no longer a slave to fear I am a child of God I'm no longer a slave to fear I am a child of God From my mothers womb You have chosen me Love has called my name I've been born again, into your family [...]

God has been tucking something into my heart for quite some time, regarding the Church, and I’m only just now able to put it into words. I’ve been asking Him for a while to let me be a small part in the healing of His people. You know, the folks who know Him and love Him. Who follow Him, claim His Name and seek community within the body of believers. Growing up in the Church, I’ve noticed a fair amount of fracturing and isolation among its members and I know Jesus well enough to understand that this ought not to be so. I’ve also been blessed to experience the warmth of deep friendships with other believers, the kind where you walk away with this profound sense that you are both intimately known and unconditionally loved. Which, as we all know, is hard to find in a world that measure[...]

Here lately, I’m sad because my friend’s son died. They had to bury him today. Last night was the visitation and a part of me didn’t want to go. Because how do you look your friends in the eyes, who just lost their son and have anything at all to say? How do you know what to do with their bleeding-out heart? When I was talking to God about this, He reminded me of the elephants. When an elephant dies, all the other elephants huddle up close together and sort of sway. They just stay there for a while and though it’s hard for us humans to know what to do with unfathomable loss, we can learn a bit from those big gentle creatures. We don’t have to say profound things. Or any deeply spiritual things. We can just say, "I love you." And "I'm sorry."  We can just show up and be with the pers[...]

I’ve got this restless heart. There are days when I’m home with my kids and I’m literally wading through the toys in the kitchen floor to get to the fridge. Everyone is falling apart and I’m trying to teach the little folks how to love each other. I’m explaining to the oldest that he doesn’t have to boss his sister and monitor everything she does. And I’m trying to teach the sister to pay attention but she doesn’t hear me because she’s pretending. And I’m encouraging the littlest fella not to whack his siblings over the head with the trains and that he doesn’t have to tear through the kitchen like a maniac, yelling “MINE!” at the top of his lungs because seriously, no one even wants his sippie cup. When all this is happening, and I’m exhausted from the chaos and the mess, I usual[...]

I talked to a few different friends this weekend. Each of them were coming up on major life decisions. And all three of them happened to be believers, meaning, they each had a relationship with God and some kind of notion that God cares about them individually and is somewhat involved in the details of their lives. But they all three carried that same angst in their voice. I recognized that angst because I've had it, too. You know, when you've done your part--you've prayed and you've sought and you've gone knocking on God's door and then you're just standing there waiting and wondering and you seriously wish God would just spell things out to you in the sky. That would sure be nice of Him. For some reason, He doesn't do that. Now, there are a few times, perhaps, for some peop[...]

Some of you have been pretty beat up by religion. You went to church, but church was mostly rules. Mostly a list of do’s and dont's and acceptance was based on how well you were performing. Somehow for the life of you, you never could perform well enough. Some of you have been pretty disappointed by Christians down at the church house. Maybe church was just a thing to do on Sunday. You wear these clothes that look nice. You smile at folks. You stare at the guy in front doing all the talking. You sing some songs. You act like you’re all fine. And then you walk out the door and nobody has a clue what sort of hell you just came from. Some of you have become a bit skeptical. Religion is for those who need to self-medicate, perhaps. It’s an opiate for those who can’t deal with the p[...]

I'm taking a little break from social media for a few weeks. (Sometimes I just need to go away by myself and be quiet for a bit. Cultivate the art of listening.) But, since I've been posting consistently on Sunday's, I don't want to give that up. And since it's pumpkin patch season, I bring you a repost from the archives that made us all laugh the other day. Here's Gideon (about four years ago) to tell you the story.... We're calling this one, "Elmer Fudd hits the Punkin' Patch" Well, it’s wabbit season and I was hopin’ to hunt me down a wabbit. Bad thing is, I’m outta buwwets, so I’ll just have to use me a pumpkin. Alwighty now...if only I could find me a good widdle pumpkin. No, wait. That one’s not a good thwowin size. I need a small one. One that I can thwow real[...]