You wanna know the truth about me? The truth is, I do more striving than I do resting. I want to have a peaceful disposition, no matter what chaotic things are going on around me. But, I stress a lot. I stress about the crud on the kitchen floor. The piles of laundry. The ring in the toilet bowl. (Okay, let's get real. There's not really a ring. The entire inside is like a whole weird shade of grey.) I stress about the dirty dishes. The overgrown flower beds. The spider webs in the corner. About whether or not I'm investing in my children. Whether or not I'm loving my neighbors. I stress if I'm writing too much. Or not enough. Or from the right motives. Or about the right things. Truth is, I have the awfullest time overcoming myself with all my weaknesses. I want to be a ru[...]

Dear Jesus-follower, Whatever plans or goals you’ve set into place for this new year, I want to encourage you in this one thing. There is something that I hope you’ll move on up to the front on that list of “important things to do”, if you haven’t already. And that is this—take time to care for your soul. Now, I’m not a psychologist. Or a philosopher. Or a theologian. Or a preacher even. So, I can’t dissect it down and tell you precisely what your soul is. Or even the difference between your soul and your heart. But, from what I’ve gathered from God’s Word, I believe the soul is the deepest most vital part of our human self. Perhaps it’s the part that integrates our heart and our mind, our will and emotions and our body all together. Our heart and soul sort of go hand-in-ha[...]

If you want, play a little music as you scroll down. One of my favorites: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yjgioXrnEME   Thank you, kind friends, for taking time out of your life to stop in here now and then. You mean a lot to me. Peace to each of you.

I've been looking back over this year and thinking about my favorite things. I wanted to share them with you, just in case you could use some good ideas for some Christmas presents for your family and friends. (And because when a person has some favorite things, it's just hard not to want to share them with folks.) Let's start with music. The following artists/musicians have greatly impacted my life this last year. Music is so powerful. It helps us get through things, like a pile of dishes and a whole kitchen floor to sweep and mop. It makes hard days not so hard  and road trips with three little people in the back crunching cheeze-its and yelling random obnoxious things, not feel so long.   https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j-ZpcJzGBpE One of our favorite groups is All Sons[...]

So, I'm kinda addicted to the internet machine. Because I really like Facebook. And email. And my favorite blogs. And there's always something entertaining on the Youtube device. And Pinterest is intriguing but then it always makes me really hungry. And angry. Because I never seem to have all those ingredients in my kitchen. And there's this thing I've noticed about myself. This thing that I do that I don't like when I notice myself doing it. I often come to the computer looking for love or fulfillment or something. I know that sounds strange, but do you know what I mean? Like, I click on my email box to see if there’s anything in there that will help me feel significant. And then I check my Facebook to see if someone has posted something that'll make me laugh or if enough people[...]

Dear Samuel, You’ve only been living here with us on this tilted earth for one full rotation around that blazing sun and I’m already having troubles remembering what our life was like before you came. Actually, I don’t even want to think of it. You’ve brought so much happiness here. I remember when you were just the tiniest thing and you’d cry at night so I’d pace the bedroom floor back and forth and back and forth when everyone else was asleep. I didn’t even mind so much. Because I knew you’d get big soon and you’d be sleeping through the night and a momma only has so long to hold her tiny son. You’ve got the most amazing smile. And your eyes-- they’re chocked full of light! You were the first of our kids to laugh at such an early age and you’ve laughed a little bit (and ofte[...]

Dear Believer, I know you want to know your Maker. You’ve got that ache, deep down, to just sit still beside Him and hear what He has to say. And you’re tired of just gathering up a bunch of facts and instructions. You don’t want more knowledge, mere chapters and verses to stuff in your already information-overloaded head. You desperately want relationship. To somehow come to the words of God and meet with the Word Himself. But, you’ve got that check-list and it seems like you should just sit long enough to do your duty and cross it off and go on to the next thing. Your Bible has gotten boring. And it’s not exactly helping much. Before you give up, reach out and grab hold of my hand for a minute. I'd like to help if I can. Now, I grew up mostly Christian. I say mostly b[...]

I wake up early in the morning to feed Samuel. And when he's done nursing and tucked back into his little bed, I have this internal debate. I could sleep some more, which always sounds appealing, or I could go ahead and stumble to the coffee pot and sit and read my Bible and go hunting for God. I really want to sleep, of course, but there's this promise God makes. He says that when we go looking and searching and hunting for Him, hungry to find Him, that He'll be found.  (Jeremiah 29:13) You might wonder why I speak of God in this way. As if He hides Himself and yet wants to be found. The prophet Isaiah wrote about God like this when he exclaimed, "Truly, you are a God who hides himself." (Isaiah 45:15) And Dallas Willard, my favorite philosopher explains: And why would God hide hims[...]

There's this girl I know, this girl with a wrecky house, and she never seems to be able to stay on top of things. Well, she does good for like one whole day, but it's hard for her to keep up with these three kids of hers who create as much chaos and disorder as a small tornadic disturbance. She tries, though. Every day she tries so hard. Though, it's a little bit difficult because she feels likes she's mostly either hungry or tired. She sometimes wonders if there are any other emotions in the world besides hungry and tired, but then there is an occasional hour or two in the day when she has a fleeting amount of energy and gumption. Like, right after she drinks a large glass of sweet tea. Yes, right after that, she does acquire a minute amount of happy motivation to conquer th[...]