What do I mean by Happy New Year?

What do I mean by Happy New Year?

by | Dec 30, 2020 | Encouragement

Happy New Year! We express this formula each year by email, text, and the spoken word. Our wish expressed a desire for a year that is peaceful, happy, healthy—what we’d call a “good” year. We look back on certain periods and say, “That was a good year.” I’m guessing no one will say that about 2020. When you hear the phrase this year, it’s often joined by, “It has to be better than this year!” We began 2020 with optimism for the new year ahead of us, armed with the well-wishes...
God of the Unlikely

God of the Unlikely

by | Sep 28, 2020 | Fiction, Journey

It’s a perfect fall day in the 70s in North Carolina. We do have beautiful falls here. It might seem like any other year, but we all know with aching certainty that it’s not. Our country and world seem to be falling apart. Yet, we have the tiny joys of days in the 70s (while we can get them…), an adorable lizard about an inch and a half long running across my patio table as I write this, pumpkin muffins (with chocolate) fresh from the oven, and many more joys that are abundant if we open our...
Expect the Best!

Expect the Best!

by | Jan 8, 2019 | Fiction, Journey

Happy New Year!

We say that so easily, don’t we? We are sincere (I am being sincere!), but if we dig into the phrase, it contains our hopes and anxieties for the coming twelve months

Limping, Strolling, or Running

Limping, Strolling, or Running

by | Dec 11, 2018 | Encouragement, Inspiration, Journey

There are different ways that people come to God. Not just initially, but along the way as they journey through their lives with him. First, there’s the limp. Life has beaten us up. We’re emptied out and bruised all over. Maybe not even sure God has noticed or cares, but we still go, limping toward him. Our journey may be slower because of it, but that’s okay. We get there. And we get a lot of TLC along the way as he meets us in often surprising ways. Or maybe limping demands more effort than...
Become: An Intriguing Word

Become: An Intriguing Word

by | Nov 6, 2018 | Inspiration, Journey

When I lived in Paris, I used to walk regularly to a gym near my apartment. One day as I was passing a construction site, something unusual caught my eye. In the middle of the sidewalk sat a temporary street lamp which was anchored by a massive concrete block. Someone had stenciled this word in red on the block: Become. I never learned who painted this word on a block of concrete or why, but I was amused and intrigued. A few weeks later I was on a different street not too far from the first...