May has flown by, and I’ve not stopped to blog! I’ve been spending time with out-of-state family, working on my book and adjusting to my new schedule as part-time office girl and part-time writer.   I’ve also been reading the book of 1 Samuel. This time, it wasn’t the stories of the main characters like Samuel and David that stood out. It was those of the “supporting characters,” like Hannah and Abigail. These people seem to have lived on the sidelines of the main story the writer is telling, and often I feel like one of them. It’s easy to feel insignificant when I consider the huge issues at...

A bruise on His heel. That was God’s prophetic description of Christ’s suffering at  the cross, spoken at the beginning of time (see Genesis 3:15).   After reading detailed descriptions of what Jesus suffered both before and during the crucifixion, it’s hard to think of His wounds as a bruise on His heel. Why would God, the loving Father, reach that conclusion?   Because Jesus didn’t stay dead. As one pastor said this morning at an Easter sunrise service, Jesus got up! He wasn’t crushed. He crushed the head of the enemy—not the heel—when He arose.   Jesus, now in heaven, still bears the...

Let us remember that life is often immersed in tears.”   The Passover Seder leader spoke these words as he dipped parsley into salt water last night, which was Maundy Thursday. In the ceremony, parsley represents new life and new beginnings, but salt water represents the suffering of the Jewish people as slaves in Egypt.   My own eyes stung at these words as I thought of the tears and grief that immersed my life over the past year. I was moved to think that God would include the reality of pain and sadness in a tradition that celebrates life and deliverance. He is a God who understands our...

When daffodils, tulips, irises and cherry blossoms begin to color in the brown landscape left by winter, evidence abounds that seasons of renewal are possible. Many people celebrate Easter as nature’s rebirth through the coming of spring.     But revival, and the hope for it, would not be possible without the redemptive nature of our Creator. New life and resurrection would not be possible without the physical torture, death and resurrection of the Son of God.   This week I’ve been reading studies of Christ’s passion week based on the Greek text of the New Testament. I’m overwhelmed by...

Oh Savior, When I look into your face, all is bright and clear like a spring morning. I hear your songs, gentle and sweet; the more I listen, the more they crescendo into symphony and I long to be swept in.   I see your heart, ever blooming and blossoming with new life, the flower of forgiveness bubbling from the wound in your side; seeds of mercy raining from the scars in your hands, carpeting the pathway before more.   How endlessly you love. How ceaselessly you serve. How tirelessly you endure my emotions, doubts, fears! No love is so gentle nor all-consuming as yours.   Oh Savior!...