Learning to love others the way Jesus loves us
Romans 5:3 Rejoice in suffering. Now that sounds fun. Don't we have enough to deal with right now with pandemic and racism and Zoom fatigue and hurricanes and wildfires? And we have to be joyful about it? In a word, yes. We don't need to be happy about suffering, but we can choose joy over… Continue reading Choose joy in suffering
Romans 5:2 We have peace with God because Jesus is the source of eternal salvation to all who obey him (Hebrews 5:9.) What does this mean? It means we have ACCESS to grace and JOY in hope no matter what our circumstances may be. We stand on a foundation of salvation because Jesus did the… Continue reading By faith
Romans 5:1 We are justified by faith; Jesus did the work. What a beautiful reminder that we can rest in knowing our salvation is already worked out for us. In this ever changing world we can have peace with God, not by our own doing, but because Jesus did. Today is Labor Day. It is… Continue reading Justified
Sunday night gathering August 16, 2020 For the last several weeks a small group of friends have met in a church parking lot to dig deeper into what God might be saying to to Church during the Covid-19 pandemic. This week we began a more systematic look at Scripture, pairing Romans and Hebrews. Several people… Continue reading Seeking Purpose
Psalm 119:169-176 Psalm 119:175 This final section is a synthesis of what has gone on before. In it we read about what God does, what we do, what we desire, and how God responds to us. The whole of Psalm 119 is this: Let my soul live and praise You, and let your rules help… Continue reading TAW
Psalm 119:161-168 Psalm 119:164 We are a people of checklists and boxes, aren't we? There's nothing like the feeling of striking through some task on paper. Even phone app lists give us that glorious feeling of accomplishment when we finish something. So, does the checklist life include our praise? I mean, the psalmist says "seven… Continue reading SIN and SHIN
Psalm 119:153-160 Psalm 119:153-160 Life is from the Lord. I wrote that in bright pink in my journal. Nothing I do or think or say gives me life. No matter what the circumstances may be, my life is secure in Him. There will be difficulties, challenges, and sorrow upon sorrow during my sojourn on earth,… Continue reading RESH
Psalm 119:145-152 Psalm 119:145-152 Pandemic life keeps getting harder. What should be open? Do we send kids to school? Is this nagging cough allergies or Coronavirus? How long is this going to go on? It's hard enough it the daytime with incessant news and social media panic posting, but at least during the day there… Continue reading Qoph
Psalm 119:137-144 Psalm 119:141 The Grand Canyon is misnamed. Grand is an understatement. It's impossible to describe it adequately, especially since it's impossible to see all at once. You might capture the width of it from and airplane, but the depth is missing. You might view the breadth from one side to the other, but… Continue reading Tsadhe
Psalm 119:129-136 Psalm 119:136 I love the map app on my phone. I like knowing immediately how to get from point A to B and about how long it will take me to get there. But sometimes I think we need to look at old school paper maps. I'm not quite old enough to remember… Continue reading PE
Defaulting to Grace 