Lord, forgive us. For we presumed that we could hold You, the God of the universe, inside our box and stack You neatly on the shelf to get You out on Sunday. But You don't live in walls, for the world is Your cathedral and all this space is Your space. You gave us this day and every other day and the next breath that fills our lungs so that we could keep living and moving and You have every right to enter into our everyday mundane. And somehow we keep forgetting You. It's preposterous that we would, but we do. You who keep giving us all the moments that make up our life so that at this very second we can say that You are here and always You are here and that makes all of life sacred. And have mercy, Lord, because we have thought that You would be impressed with our goodness and all the tim[...]

Here lately, Gideon has been saying some funny stuff. He's at that fun age, you know, where he just says whatever in the world is going on in his head and whatever in the world is going on in his head is very interesting and usually makes me laugh. I love the way a 2 year old processes life.Like the other day, I got him this old television. Like the kind that has a vhs player in it. Does anyone even know what I'm talking about? Anyways, I told him not to touch it, because you know how a 2 year old is...they think happiness in life consists in pushing buttons. The more buttons, the merrier. And on top of that, a vhs player has this cool flap that you can open and stick your hand in there and there's all these other cool buttons on the inside that you can't see and it feels kind of neat and [...]

Today I went out to gather pinecones. I love the smell of cinnamon and I was thinking it would be neat to make my own cinnamon scented pinecones. So, I gathered them up and put them in a basket. And I couldn't help but notice how lovely they were. For some reason, no one had ever told me how amazing a pinecone is. I almost went my whole life without really noticing one.So, I found myself sitting in the yard looking down at pinecones. Have you ever looked down a pinecone? You really should.I just can't express to you how captivating they are. Those outer rims are all sappy and smell amazing. And just before that white sappy frosty stuff is this delicate little curve of brown--looks like someone took a paintbrush and did a little water coloring on them. Anyways, I was kind of lost in the adm[...]

I want to have unbroken fellowship with my Creator. The One who knit me together, who molded and fashioned me like clay in a potter's hand. The One who formed life from dust and makes beautiful things out of jars of clay. I want to hear His voice. To follow His lead. To feel His love.I want to gut-believe in the good hand of God toward me. To trust Him in a wild abandoning way. The reckless kind that knows no fear because of the sure belief that He is good and that everything He does is good and I am held. I want to breathe in and out His grace. To open my hand to whatever He gives. To know that whatever trouble and pain I stumble upon in the path ahead are not circumstances that I should fear, but life-lines meant to draw me closer into the tender heart of Him who one day will right [...]

Tut-tut, looks like rain. I see that mama is busy cookin' dinner. I should probably help her out by bossin' Bubby around. I think she would appreciate a little break. Hey, Buuuuubby! Time to come in. You need to get in here and wash up for supper. Besides, it's about to rain. You don't want to catch a cold, do you?(Bubby whirls by at ground breaking speeds, unattentive to his sister's bidding.)Hey! What are you deaf? I said get in here and wash up. A little soap and water never hurt anybody.Hey, look, mama! It's working. He's coming. I just knew I would be good at this. You should probably let me do the bossin' from here on out.(Bubby whirls by again, this time laughing obnoxiously and chanting, "Nah-nah-nuh-nah-nah.")Muuuuther! He's not listening! Ugh, children these days. Boy have I got [...]

If you ever get invited to a field day, I think you should go. "What's a field day?" you may wonder. Well, let me explain.A field day is a day where you go out in this big field and look at corn. Or I suppose you can look at soybeans but on this day, it was corn. This guy tells you all about the corn and you get to see for yourself how good the corn grows. And when you see how good the corn grows you'll want to buy all your seeds from this guy and this guy's seed company.But, there's a lot more to a field day than that. For one thing, you'll get to see a lot of trucks while you're there. Big trucks. Gas-eatin trucks. Hard-to-climb-up-into trucks. Loud trucks. That's pretty much a given at a field day.You're also sure to see a bunch of farm-folks standing around talkin' about farm thing[...]

Today I marry Gungor's music and lyrics with my pictures, in hopes that it will encourage you deep and minister to your soul. Just push "play" and scroll down.Would You believe there's a great Redeemer who can take the mess of our lives and make it beautiful? It's what He came to do--to make the ugly beautiful. He's not through yet...Listen close...All this painI wonder if I’ll ever find my wayI wonder if my life could really change at all. All this earthCould all that is lost ever be found?Could a garden come up from this ground at all? You make beautiful thingsYou make beautiful things out of the dust.You make beautiful thingsYou make beautiful things out of us.  All aroundHope is springing up from this old ground,Out of chaos life is being found in You. You make[...]

In case of the event that you find yourself challenged to a balloon war, there are some things you need to know in order to be a success. First and foremost, you need to get your game face on. You need to get your game face on because balloon wars are very serious matters and you've got to begin by intimidating your opponent. You don't want him to make a mockery of you, do you?  Next, you need to be sure that you're the first to do the whacking. Show your scrawny opponent that you mean business and that your balloon is a very macho balloon and not a sissy one. You need to stick your balloon in his face and show him that. It's imperative that he fears you, and your balloon and your amazing balloon whacking skills. Now, your opponent may try to taunt you with his silly smack talk and ba[...]

Here lately I've been looking for beauty in the everyday stuff of life. Like in tomatoes and cabbage. Bell peppers and apples. That kind of stuff. It's pretty neat when you slow down just long enough to really look at something. In fact, it's astounding what you might find. So just recently a friend encouraged me to cut open an apple half-ways instead of the usual long-ways. (Sometimes in order to find beauty, you just have to go about things a little differently than the way you would normally go-along.) So I did just that. And I found this--a star right in the center. I didn't know there was a star right in the center of an apple. And then another friend told me about this book she had read about how you can look at an apple and it represents the Trinity. I actually read that boo[...]