[New Song added] The Place of QUARANTINE. . .Under His Wings

/
[New Song added] The Place of QUARANTINE. . .Under His Wings

So appropriate is this imagery for what we are facing today with the COVID-19 outbreak. Now more than ever, we need these Scriptures and these truths to keep us stabilized in the Lord.

When in the deepest of troubles...when there is no consolation or comfort...go to the sacred place where you and the Lord live together and nothing can touch...the place of union with our God through Jesus Christ by faith (Colossians 2:9-10 ESV)...and rest in Him who rests in you (John 17:20-23 ESV)!

Hide me in the shadow of your wings. Psalm 17:8b

Read More

Lenten Meditation: a Word of Personal Need

/
Lenten Meditation: a Word of Personal Need

Thirst is a primal need in all of us humans...more demanding even than hunger!  We can go quite awhile without eating, but a very short time without drinking. Jesus on the Cross had refrained up to this point from satisfying His thirst.  Instead He drank the Father's cup to the very last drop! He became sin for us...the Sinless One!  Jesus took our place, and the Father turned His back.  The punishment for sin had been accomplished...spiritual separation from God....for US!

Now in fulfillment of prophecy, Jesus expresses His own physical need:

After this, Jesus, knowing that all was now finished, said ( to fulfill the Scripture), “I thirst.” A jar full of sour wine stood there, so they put a sponge full of the sour wine on a hyssop branch and held it to his mouth. John 19:28-29 ESV

Read More

The Real Enemy Behind the COVID-19

/
The Real Enemy Behind the COVID-19

We have an Enemy. . . a silent enemy. . . an invisible enemy . . . a nasty Bully of an enemy.

And it’s not the coronavirus or any other entity that can harass our bodies and do damage in our physical world. The enemy I’m referring to is the Enemy of our souls, God’s enemy and therefore ours (because we belong to God) — the “spiritual forces of wickedness” —the devil and his evil legions.

Read More

Back to the Cross -- our Focus in Crisis and Everyday

/
Back to the Cross -- our Focus in Crisis and Everyday

I don’t know about you, but I have been so distracted these past couple weeks. So much to process. So much to try to wrap my head around. So much still going on with COVID-19 ramping up in the US. Whatever Lenten Meditation I traditionally do at this time of the year has been distracted and even sporadic.

Every Lent for the past 8 years, I have shared reflections on Jesus’ words from the cross. I love to think deeply on each of Christ’s words. And even though I wrote them down as the Holy Spirit illumined my mind and heart, I read them fresh as coming from another pen.

Read More

A New Lenten Fast -- Social Distancing in this Pandemic

/
A New Lenten Fast -- Social Distancing in this Pandemic

This morning I was reading the lovely Lenten book, 40 Days of Decrease (Alicia Britt Cole). It has been my habit day by day and year by year. Each day the author suggests a new fast — for instance, fasting regret, fasting criticism, fasting religious profiling, etc.

Well this morning, all of a sudden, I realized that we have a perfect fast going on…not by choice but by necessity. But we can make this fasting from social interaction spiritual by our attitude and our offering.

Read More

Carrying or Casting? Our Choice in the Midst of Pandemic

/
Carrying or Casting? Our Choice in the Midst of Pandemic

The situation we now face is enough to send each of us over the edge with anxiety and fear. We have no idea how this will all go globally, nationally, and personally. We watch it all unfold as our government officials and staff spell out what they know day by day.

It is then that we have to remember we have a choice. Will we carry the weight of these facts and predictions? Or will we cast our care, fling our anxieties on Him who is on the throne of heaven because He cares for us?

Read More

[NEW LINK] In the Throes of COVID-19: Message from a Brother in the Lord in Austria

/
[NEW LINK] In the Throes of COVID-19: Message from a Brother in the Lord in Austria

Hi everyone,

We are going through some unusual times.
Since I live in Europe, I feel a bit of a responsibility to write to dear friends and family in the US about the situation here and what it most likely will be like in the US in a few days.
Let me paint a picture of what may come in the next few days in the USA.
The Virus hit Europe several weeks before it arrived in the USA…

Read More

The Place of Immunity (a.k.a. QUARANTINE). . .Under His Wings

/
The Place of Immunity (a.k.a. QUARANTINE). . .Under His Wings

When in the deepest of troubles...when there is no consolation or comfort...go to the sacred place where you and the Lord live together and nothing can touch...the place of union with our God through Jesus Christ by faith (Colossians 2:9-10 ESV)...and rest in Him who rests in you (John 17:20-23 ESV)!

Hide me in the shadow of your wings. Psalm 17:8b

Read More

Live While You are Alive . . . even in a Pandemic

/
Live While You are Alive . . . even in a Pandemic

How do we live during this unsettling time? Is God still God? Can we children of God practice what we preach as in the times of relative peace?

Jesus comforted and warned His beloved disciples (including us) just hours before He died:

I have told you these things so that you will be whole and at peace.
In this world, you will be plagued with times of trouble, but you need not fear;
I have triumphed over this corrupt world order.

Read More

Lenten Meditation: a Word of Abandonment

/
Lenten Meditation: a Word of Abandonment

Abandoned!  Left on the "doorstep of Life"...but with no Rescuer in sight! What happens next in the unfolding drama of the crucifixion of our Lord is incomprehensible!

It's an abandonment so profoundly mysterious that it boggles the mind...but ravishes the believing heart! Let's watch it unfold...

It is noon. By this time, Jesus has already forgiven ... 

Read More

Lenten Meditation: Eulogize your Living Loved One

/
Lenten Meditation: Eulogize your Living Loved One

In our week’s Lenten meditation, we focus on the Lord’s care for His dear mom as His own death approaches. How tender, how like a beloved son of a beloved mom! Caring for our treasured loved ones is at the heart of “family” in the purest sense of the word.

However, we often forget that true caring can be much deeper and more needed than merely physical care, as critical as that is. There’s a caring that touches heart and soul…one that meeting physical needs approaches, but a caring that perhaps only loving words can reach.

Read More

Lenten Meditation: a Word of Family Affection

/
Lenten Meditation: a Word of Family Affection

Dear woman, behold your son...behold your mother. (John 19:26)

Jesus has a special love for His own. As we've already seen with His forgiving and saving attitude in the midst of excruciating agony, His concern was not with His own suffering.  Rather His attention was next drawn to His precious loved ones at the foot of His cross, His mother and His beloved disciple John.

What agony Jesus must have seen on Mary's face.

Read More

Lenten Meditation: a Word of Salvation

/
Lenten Meditation: a Word of Salvation

Truly I say to you, today you will be with Me in Paradise. Luke 23:43

Jesus seems to have a special love for lost people.  I love the stories He tells in Luke 15.  The first is the beloved story of the shepherd who has a hundred sheep but leaves the ninety-nine to look for the one that is lost.  Then when he finds his lost one, he calls in his neighbors and friends to rejoice with him.

Read More

Be Thou My Vision -- a Hymn for my Every Day

/
Be Thou My Vision -- a Hymn for my Every Day

For years this hymn has been my go to song…from the time I was “in the convent” back in the late 1960’s to this very day no matter my Christian context. And recently it has been my morning song as I awaken the dawn walking in my area — even as the darkness is departing and my neighborhood owl is singing out the final hoo-hoo of his “day.”

And so I sing…even aloud…despite the high school young people passing me by on their way to the bus stop, wondering about this weird, white haired woman softly singing. I love the focus. I love the plaintive melody. I love my indwelling God who draws me toward thoughts of HIM Alone. And I love the story behind the song…

Read More

Forgiven to Live...and Forgive

/
Forgiven to Live...and Forgive

Until you rest in the finality of the cross, you will never experience the reality of the resurrection, which is Christ living in and through you! Unless you rest in the fact that Jesus did it all, you’ll be so busy trying to pay off your debt—atone for your sins—that you’ll never grow and enjoy the personal relationship that Christ has provided for you.

Bob George, Growing in Grace

Read More