Category "Life With God"

god as stranger

God as the Stranger

- - Life With God, Uncategorized

The theme of welcoming the stranger can be seen throughout Scripture. Abraham and Sarah welcomed three traveling strangers, offering them hospitality and friendship, a place to rest and to eat. When Jesus was born, those who celebrated and visited and brought gifts were strangers. In the story of the Good Samaritan, the wounded man is helped, not by his own people, but by a stranger—a despised Samaritan.

“With the stranger lies surprise, new possibility, contact with that part of God and reality that we have never experienced before.” —Ronald Rolheiser

Parker Palmer, in his book The Company of Strangers says…

The role of the stranger in our lives is… Read More

the attraction of small graces and specific kindnesses

The Attraction Of Small Graces & Specific Kindnesses

- - Life With God, Uncategorized

In Phil Needham’s book When God Becomes Small, he shares the following…

I love the story Kathleen Norris tells about her three-year old niece. The girl’s father would drive her to day care in the morning on the way to work, and her mother would pick her up on the way home.

Often the mother would peel an orange and bring it to her daughter when she picked her up.

One day Norris came across her niece playing “Mommy’s office” on the front porch of their home. She asked her niece what… Read More

sunday shout outs 2015

The Good Kind of Shouting

- - Guest Posts, Life With God, Uncategorized

It’s Sunday again – time for the good kind of shouting – some shout outs. Here’s what I enjoyed online this past week:

 

anne-marie heckt post

1. This post: We’re Meant To Be Swimming In The Deep by Anne-Marie Heckt.
My favorite line(s): “My thoughts drifted to the One who knows me. Who gets me. Better than any other ever, ever could. Water is an elemental love. Sky might be yours. Or loud noises, or wet rain, or heat that cracks the bones, or dancing in the motes of a sunrise. Or reading words and letting them bubble into and over you like champagne.

All of that beauty feeds us and it comes from the One who knows us.

We are meant to be out there, deep, swimming. Not clinging to the shore. Time spent in that beauty is not… Read More

FRANKIES CONFESSION POST

At Frankie’s Confession

- - Life With God, Uncategorized

I love the story of Frankie’s confession – as told by Frank McCourt in his famous autobiography Angela’s Ashes.

The story takes place in Limerick, Ireland when he was a young boy…

His mother had just given birth, and their in-laws from the north sent some money to buy milk for the new baby. But his father, an alcoholic, has taken the money and is drinking it up in the pubs.

His mother sends Frankie to find his dad and bring him home.

Young Frankie can’t find his father, but what he finds instead is… Read More

sunday shout outs 2015

Sundays Are For Sharing

- - Guest Posts, Life With God, Uncategorized

Sundays are for sharing – so here are some shout-outs to three great writers: Carlos Rodriguez, Kathy Escobar, and Jason Isaacs. Please take a few minutes to read what they shared online this week…

carlos rodriquez post

1. This post: 9 Reasons Sinners Went To Jesus But Don’t Come To Us by Carlos Rodriguez.

Here’s my favorite line(s): “1. Because we complain. About politics, Obama, abortion, Islam, liberal media, sex, taxes and… Read More

slow post

Normally I Am Slow

- - Fun / Humor, Life With God, Uncategorized

Normally I am slow. I like to take my time thinking about stuff. You won’t get big reactions from me. And if you ask what I think about some big issue or crisis du jour… my favorite answer is “I don’t know.” I joke with Shari that my gravestone should say “I don’t know” on it (she asks billions of questions and gets this answer from me all the time).

Normally I am slow. But not yesterday.

Things started out pretty typical. Shari left the house first. Then I got Ashah off to school. I was enjoying those few moments of quietness (OK, it was my 30-minute nap that I take every morning) when all of the sudden, my phone blew up.

I’ve never heard text messages come in such rapid succession. It was vibration… Read More

sunrise post

Love Like The Sunrise

- - Life With God, Uncategorized

On Monday morning, Shari, Ashah, and Ashah’s friend Mackenzie left the house at 4:30am to drive up to Naches Peak Loop – which is part of the Pacific Crest Trail near Mt. Rainier. They wanted to watch the sun rise.

I stayed at home, in bed.

Ashah came home with… Read More

sunday shout outs 2015

Yay Internet! It’s Been a Good Week.

- - Guest Posts, Life With God, Uncategorized

On Sundays I like to share what I thought was particularly good on the Internet from the week.  So here they are – from my screen to yours – a few shout-out-worthy posts…

shallow small group post

This post: Shallow Small Group Bible Study from RightNowMedia.org. Here’s my favorite line: “Some people say we’re superficial. But, hey, the word ‘super’ is in superficial. I mean, who doesn’t want to be… Read More