I am creating a series of art and poems based on the words Jesus spoke to women. This poem is based on the story of the woman at the well from John 4. I learned to see myselfthrough their gazea useful objector a cautionary talemy worth measured by the weight I carry I carry it wellin this one-well townbalanced on my hips just rightI can’t afford any softnessI suffer the heatTo avoid theirs the sweaty stranger at noonthrows off this balanceasks...
As some of us celebrate Lent and as Easter Sunday approaches, I want to meditate on a few verses and share a screensaver image for your phone. “For I received from the Lord what I also delivered to you, that the Lord Jesus on the night when he was betrayed took bread, and when he had given thanks, he broke it, and said, “This is my body which is for you. Do this in remembrance of me.” In the...
When you think of God, do you think of His infinite joy, and the delight he takes in his good creation, including you? I’m slowly reading through Dallas Willard’s The Divine Conspiracy.** You’ll probably be hearing a lot about it here as I work through it. I was reading this week about how God is characterized by joy. Willard writes, “Undoubtedly, is the most joyous being in the universe. The abundance of his love and generosity is inseparable from his infinite...
I don’t have a lot to write about today’s art. It’s enough just to meditate on these words of Jesus and the prophet Isaiah. Jesus was forsaken by the Father for us, so that we would never have to taste forsakenness. The Father turned His back on the Son as He bore our sins, an unimaginable disruption in the Trinity, so that God would never turn His back on us and our sins. Meditate on these words when you...
“Come, everyone who thirsts, come to the waters; and he who has no money, come, buy and eat! Come, buy wine and milk without money and without price. Why do you spend your money for that which is not bread, and your labor for that which does not satisfy? Listen diligently to me, and eat what is good, and delight yourselves in rich food. Incline your ear, and come to me; hear, that your soul may live; and...
I know it looks like I’ve gotten my blog posts all mixed up and have skipped Thanksgiving, but I promise this is right on time! I have a very vivid memory of one Christmas as a child. I must have been in about third grade. It was evening on Christmas day and I was curled up in the corner of my bedroom feeling completely deflated. It hadn’t been magical. The gifts I got were nice, but maybe slightly disappointing...
For those of us who struggle with anxiety, the simplest situations send us into a tailspin of worry. For example, occasionally, I get a phone call or text on Sunday morning saying that someone is unable to serve with the children at church and we need to find a replacement. This used to make me very anxious, but God has been graciously working on my response to situations like these in the last few years. I’m trying to read...
You know how you read God’s Word, but it doesn’t really sink in? You’re thinking, I know this is really profound, but it just isn’t changing my life right now. What am I doing wrong? I feel like that a lot. But God’s Word is not a dead book for me to figure out all by myself: “For the word of God is living and active, sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing to the division of soul and of spirit, of joints and of...
In 2000, I had graduated and completed four years at a wonderfully small Christian college (Gardner-Webb University), full of cherished friends, late-night talks, movie nights with lots of M&M’s . . . and, oh, a wonderful education too. But they didn’t let me stay once I finished my degree, so I was cruelly catapulted into the real world of student loans, work, and living in the dark corner of my parent’s unfinished basement. For me, this was a recipe...
