“Then Jesus, filled with the power of the Spirit, returned to Galilee, and a report about him spread through all the surrounding country. He began to teach in their synagogues and was praised by everyone.” (Luke 4: 14)These verses describe the beginning of the Galilean ministry, coming right after the temptation of Jesus in the wilderness. At the start of this Lenten season, we witness Jesus at this beginning. The start of a new church season can be a time to reflect on…
I pulled a tendon in my right ankle doing yard work. I stepped away from the bush I was trimming, and my foot got caught between the edge of a concrete landscaping border and the grass. That stepping away immediately changed my perspective. I knew something was wrong when I couldn’t put weight on the foot without pain and it was swollen. The tendon will heal if I keep weight off my foot for at least two weeks, so I am wearing an…
I lift my eyes to the hills, from where will my help come? My help comes from the Lord, who made heaven and earth. (Psalm 121:1) I recently had the chance to visit my hometown - Duluth, Minnesota. I only lived in Duluth until I was four, when we moved to Omaha, Nebraska. After Omaha, we moved to Schaumburg, Illinois, and after that, to Natick, Massachusetts. My childhood years were marked by these moves and experiences of different places. Duluth is rich in…
A few weeks ago I was taking an early morning walk. As I walked down the street, I noticed dark, ominous clouds ahead of me. It was windy. I found myself reflecting that it was going to be a gloomy day. It looked like the darkness wouldn’t end. “Just one of those days,” I grumbled to myself. Isn’t it strange how one day can be bright and warm, infused with the scent of spring and possibility, and the next day just, yuck? I…
"Now that faith has come, we are no longer subject to a disciplinarian, for in Christ Jesus you are all children of God through faith. As many of you as were baptized into Christ have clothed yourselves with Christ. There is no longer Jew or Greek, there is no longer slave or free, there is no longer male and female; for all of you are one in Christ Jesus" (Galatians 3:25-29). Do you like to read mystery novels? I do. I was thinking…
These days, you don’t have to wait long for night. It gets dark fast. We often talk about the shortened length of days this time of the year. However, the days aren’t actually shorter. We have the same hours to our day as ever, it just feels different. Days like these provide us with an opportunity to reacquaint ourselves with the dark. Things feel different, they look different, we have to do things differently because there’s less light, but that doesn’t take away…
I will both lie down and sleep in peace; for you alone, O Lord, make me lie down in safety. (Psalm 4:8 NRSV) Lately, I have found myself restless at night. All the things I didn’t get done or need to get done run through my mind. Worries and what ifs pop up to keep me unsettled. This is common for me at the end of summer and into early fall. I have to keep reminding myself that I go through this a…
The hearing ear and the seeing eye, the Lord has made them both. Proverbs 20:12Those of us who wear glasses know that the world looks very different depending on whether or not we have our glasses on. And they have to be OUR glasses. We can’t really see the world well through someone else’s prescription glasses.Several years ago someone I know dropped their glasses into the water while out boating about a week before they were to have eye surgery. Being a practical…
“After Jesus had said this and while they (Jesus’ disciples) were watching, he was taken up into a cloud. They could not see him, but as he went up, they kept looking up into the sky.” Acts 1:9-10Four years ago we moved to our present home that is near the base of the foothills. Since then a number of new homes have filled the space between us and where the hills start going up. Yet, on most days of the year, all we…
It was a morning like no other morning I’d spend for a long time. I had the opportunity to indulge one of my passions—fly fishing—on a weekday not long ago. The sun was on its way over the ridge that sat above the Salmon River just below Stanley, Idaho, in view of the majestic Sawtooth range. The aspen were quaking with the slight breeze and the colors of the wilderness were in full array. The morning was crisp with an air that levitated…
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