Morning Thoughts

Happy Thursday! I hope your Wednesday was a bit less stressful than ours was. For me and my sister and my brothers and my sisters-in-law, it was just a bit extreme. Between my mother (who has severe Alzheimer’s) being admitted to the hospital in Neosho and her husband in the hospital at KU Medical Center with a new cancer diagnosis, we were running like crazy people.  We have been trying to make decisions for short term and for long term and for everyone’s best interests and have decided there are no great answers. It can make you nutty and it can make you second guess every thought you have. As I continued to dwell on all the events of the day, this passage from the apostle Paul came to me.  “Don’t worry about anything; instead, pray about everything. Tell God what you need, and thank him for all he has done. Then you will experience God’s peace, which exceeds anything we can understand. His peace will guard your hearts and minds as you live in Christ Jesus. And now, dear bro...

Happy Wednesday Phil. How are you doing today? My house now has walls and a roof and I’m getting excited about it. When we saw it yesterday, my sister said “it looks like a house!” Isn’t it amazing how when one thing happens the whole project takes on a completely new look?  It makes me think of our lives as we work toward building our walk with Christ. We start with one block at a time and little by little, He has shaped us and moulded us into a person that people can recognize as a Christian. We can love more fully, we can care more deeply, we can share with more frequency, we can give with more generosity, and we can offer more grace to those who don’t deserve it. In short, we have begun to take on the attributes of of Lord Jesus and we look like a Christian.  It doesn’t mean we are perfect or that we never make a mistake, but that for the most part, we make the choices that Jesus would have us make. We read the scriptures, meditate on the word and communicate with our Fath...

Happy Tuesday and I hope you enjoyed the weekend and found time to pay respects to our servicemen and to your friends and relatives who have passed.  Yesterday was my 41st anniversary. As I sat at that grave yesterday, talking about things that had been happening and crying because it wasn’t fair, I thought about a sermon I’d heard recently. “It’s all about your perspective.”   If you have a telescope and you believe that you should look through the big end, you will conclude that the telescope is to make large things small. On the other hand, if you believe the telescope should be viewed from the small end, you will decide it is to make small things large. What you believe about something can certainly change what you see.  I believe in a God who conquered death and was resurrected. I believe that He promises eternal life to his followers. I believe that there is a heaven where the saints of God abide. And if I truly believe what I say I believe, my perspective should be...

Happy weekend! We hope you have started a good time of  rest and fun for this first long weekend of the summer. Ours is looking a bit different this year, but we are pretty thankful for the great weather.  My sister and I are staying with our mother and over the last three days, we have done an incredible amount of laundry. One thing that I appreciate is that when clothes are a bit dingy or just plain dirty, if you add a little bleach things sure come out brighter. I washed a load of whites last night and when I opened the washer, I was surprised how bright those once filthy things were. I just kept thinking of Psalm 51.  “Generous in love—God, give grace! Huge in mercy—wipe out my bad record. Scrub away my guilt, soak out my sins in your laundry. I know how bad I’ve been; my sins are staring me down...Soak me in your laundry and I’ll come out clean, scrub me and I’ll have a snow-white life. Tune me in to foot-tapping songs, set these once-broken bones to dancing. Don’t ...

Happy Friday! Are you ready for this 3-day weekend? It should be good weather where I am and I hope you’ll have blue skies, too.  Yesterday was our sweet Gracie’s birthday. She is 12 and it seems like only last year that we found out she was to be ours. Born 1/2 way around the world, she was destined to be Gracie White, a middle class American girl living in Missouri. What a great God we serve to orchestrate the perfect work and how marvelous that we serve a God who is concerned about the details of our lives.  “What shall we say about such wonderful things as these? If God is for us, who can ever be against us?” Romans 8:31 It hasn’t all been smooth sailing. Before Gracie came into our lives, my daughter and her husband had suffered terribly, but as I heard the other day,  “Do we serve God because of what He can do for us or do we serve God for what He is to us?” And that is the question we all have to ultimately decide for ourselves because the God of the good times, is...

Happy Thursday and how has your week been? Ours has been crazy busy. Last week, my oldest grandchild graduated from Navy basic training. He has already shipped to Connecticut to begin his job training. He is loving being a part of the Navy and proud to be selected to serve his country.  It makes me smile to think about it. My dad was a Navy man and I like to think it would make him excited to see Braden following his steps.  When we think about being in the army of the Lord, do we share the same enthusiasm? The same fervor and excitement for serving the Lord God Almighty or do we keep that to ourselves and say things like “my faith is a private matter?” Can you imagine a service man or woman saying they don’t feel like wearing a uniform because they want to keep their service a “private matter?” Of course not.  Neither should we hold back or be afraid but everyone who comes into contact with us should leave us knowing whose side we fight for.  “How beautiful on the ...

  It’s Wednesday and as my sister says “You never know where the day will take you.” Yesterday, we had planned to visit all of the family cemeteries and as we have done the last few years, we took mom with us. Little did we know when we made those plans, our step-father (our mom’s primary care-giver) would be so ill. While we had mom, he was admitted to the hospital so my sister and I immediately became the “primary care-givers.” Life and curve balls, right?  “So don’t worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will bring its own worries. Today’s trouble is enough for today.” ‭‭Matthew‬ ‭6:34‬ ‭NLT‬‬ And yes, tomorrow does bring its own set of worries! But Peter tells us “Give all your worries and cares to God, for he cares about you. Stay alert! Watch out for your great enemy, the devil. He prowls around like a roaring lion, looking for someone to devour. Stand firm against him, and be strong in your faith. Remember that your family of believers all over the world is going through t...

Happy Tuesday! My sister took a tumble yesterday (she skinned her hands) but I’m hoping today is better for her since “Tuesday’s child is full of grace!” Right?  It’s amazing how a misplaced rock and a little mud can just take you to the ground. Sissy wasn’t watching her every step and before you could blink, she was rolling—thrown down by a misstep.   How often does that happen to us spiritually? If we forget to pay attention to our steps, we neglect Gods Word and fail to attend to our prayer life, all sorts of things can trip us up and we on flat on our back.  “But if you remain in me and my words remain in you, you may ask for anything you want, and it will be granted! When you produce much fruit, you are my true disciples. This brings great glory to my Father.” John‬ ‭15:7-8‬ ‭NLT‬‬ Remember the song we sang as children? “Read your Bible, pray everyday and you’ll grow, grow, grow”? And the next verse? “Don’t read your Bible, forget to pray and you’ll shrink, shrink, s...

Happy Monday! I hope you had a great weekend. I lost my contact somewhere and alas, I couldn’t see to send out the message I had written for the weekend. Coming home yesterday, I found an old one that is helping me get through until I can go today for a new one.  It’s amazing how the world blurs so quickly to the point I can’t distinguish lines much less words. I suppose that’s how the world sees the things of God. They are blurry and they don’t make much sense. When Christ comes into our lives, it’s like we have put in our contact—we start to see things much more clearly.  “Some Pharisees overheard him and said, “Does that mean you’re calling us blind?” Jesus said, “If you were really blind, you would be blameless, but since you claim to see everything so well, you’re accountable for every fault and failure.”” ‭‭John‬ ‭9:40-41‬ ‭MSG‬‬ My contact works at night straightening up my cornea. I take it out during the day and I see well. If I just keep it in an hour or two, I can ...

Happy Friday! How are you today? I have a friend moving into a new house this morning. She and her daughter have been living in a very small rent house and now, they are moving into their own home with lots of room! She is super excited and ready to go.  Before she bought it, she had inspections done to make sure it was all good, but how awful it would be for her if she moved into her new place and then things started to fall apart—if it wasn’t built correctly? ““Therefore, everyone who hears these words of Mine and acts on them will be like a sensible man who built his house on the rock. The rain fell, the rivers rose, and the winds blew and pounded that house. Yet it didn’t collapse, because its foundation was on the rock.” ‭‭Matthew‬ ‭7:24-25‬ ‭HCSB‬‬ Jesus is telling us that if you want to built a strong house, it has to have a strong foundation. And obviously He was talking about us. If we want to build a strong life, full of the grace and knowledge of Jesus, we can’t just sla...

Happy Thursday! Did you experience storms last night where you were? I sure did! Thunder, lightning, wind and heavy rains and while in the midst of them, I was thinking how great it is to have a Savior who is always the God of the storms. With a couple of words, he calmed a raging storm.  It seems for me, it’s not at all hard to remember to cling to Jesus in the storms of my life. When I have to constantly remind myself is not in the rough times, but when things are smooth sailing. Those are the days when I tend to think “I’ve got this now!” And those “easy seasons” of life have the potential to be our most dangerous.  When Moses and the Children of Israel approached Mt Sinai where God was abiding, they were flat-out scared and even Moses was “terrified and trembling” at the sight. But, we have no reason to fear when we come to the place where God resides.  “No, you have come to Mount Zion, to the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem, and to countless thousands ...

Happy Wednesday! I hope that the week is treating you well and that you have good things in store for the rest of it. Yesterday I was picking up the limbs that had blown off the trees from the storm and thinking about the night before. When I woke up to the heavy winds, I thought about getting in the storm shelter but in all of my sleepiness, I didn’t stop to pray. Picking up those oak limbs, I couldn’t get past this idea of faith and how much I lack. I feel so much like the father of the boy with the demon who cried out to Jesus “I do believe, help my unbelief.”  I’ve been listening to the new Michael W. Smith album and one of the songs on it simply says “This is how I fight my battles...It may look like I’m surrounded, but I’m surrounded by You...This is how we fight our battles. “ We are able to fight those battles when we surround ourselves full in the faith with Jesus.  Right after the transfiguration, Jesus and the disciples come down to the crowd, a father begs Jesus to...

 Good Tuesday morning! Yesterday was such a gorgeous day, I kept singing Vestal Goodman’s “What a Beautiful Day for the Lord to Come Again.” All day, the thoughts of the second coming of Christ filled my mind. And then, last night we had all sorts of storms—lots of loud thunder and heavy winds. I thought about those next verses in Matthew.  “He was still speaking when, behold, a bright cloud overshadowed them, and a voice from the cloud said, "This is my beloved Son, with whom I am well pleased; listen to him." When the disciples heard this, they fell on their faces and were terrified. But Jesus came and touched them, saying, "Rise, and have no fear."...And as they were coming down the mountain, Jesus commanded them, "Tell no one the vision, until the Son of Man is raised from the dead."” ‭‭Matthew‬ ‭17:5-7, 9‬ ‭ESV When the voice of God totally freaks out Peter, James and John, Jesus tells them to not be afraid. He is there, calming and protecting them. ...

Good Monday morning! I hope you had a great Lord’s Day yesterday—I certainly did. Amazing church service, great times with family and to top it all off, I got to see Michael W Smith last night. The man is still amazing after all these years. He led us in a great time of worship and I don’t know how anyone there could feel like they had not been in the presence of our God.  The sermon I heard yesterday would rank in the top tier of all sermons I’ve ever heard. It was all about the transfiguration of Jesus. A couple of songs I heard have stuck with me. One was “God of infinite worth, with hands that carved out the ocean, You hold the universe and still run to the broken.” That our God who walked as man and could show Himself as God at any time still chooses not just to help, but To RUN to us when we are broken.  “And after six days Jesus took with him Peter and James, and John his brother, and led them up a high mountain by themselves. And he was transfigured before them, and h...

Happy Saturday! I was reading the Message yesterday and this passage really spoke to me.  “Do you see what this means—all these pioneers who blazed the way, all these veterans cheering us on? It means we’d better get on with it. Strip down, start running—and never quit!  No extra spiritual fat, no parasitic sins. Keep your eyes on Jesus, who both began and finished this race we’re in. Study how he did it. Because he never lost sight of where he was headed—that exhilarating finish in and with God—he could put up with anything along the way: Cross, shame, whatever. And now he’s there, in the place of honor, right alongside God. When you find yourselves flagging in your faith, go over that story again, item by item, that long litany of hostility he plowed through. That will shoot adrenaline into your souls!” ‭‭Hebrews‬ ‭12:1-3‬ ‭MSG‬‬ A friend of mine wrote an article about the Tarahumara and in it, he spoke about their running affinity. They are great long distance runners and ...

Happy Friday. Well it is almost Mother’s Day and we all begin to think about our Moms, our Mother-in-laws, our grandmothers, and all those Mother-figures in our lives. My mom is 90 and doesn’t always know who I am these days, my grandmothers of course have passed, my mother-in-law is 95, and I’ve lost several of those women who took me under their wings and mothered me. So Mother’s Day can be a little sad, especially when I remember how my Dad always made a big deal out of it with flowers for everyone that day (red flowers for those of us whose mother was alive and white ones for those whose mother had passed).  The tradition of a Mother’s Day corsage has just about faded away, but hopefully our honoring of our mother hasn’t.  I never felt like I did a very good job as a mother. I was too easy, didn’t have great wisdom, and I just simply got tired. Sometimes I look at my kids and feel like they deserve an extra prize for surviving to adulthood with their mom. My sister was the...

Happy Thursday! How is the week going? Sometimes in the evenings, the lake is so calm and so peaceful and simply beautiful as the sun sets. The colors are amazing and it can be breathtaking. Last night, I wondered if it could be any prettier. But that’s not always the case.  Sometimes, the water is full of turbulence and the wind and the waves seem like they are out of control. But calm eventually comes again.  I looked at the lake last night and though “That’s my life!” Sometimes it’s beautiful and all things seem calm, ordered, and peaceful. It’s the way I want to live-the place I want to stay. But alas, there are more times that my life feels like the winds are blowing from different directions and I am out of control to the point I can’t even steer my boat.  “And how blessed all those in whom you live, whose lives become roads you travel; They wind through lonesome valleys, come upon brooks, discover cool springs and pools brimming with rain! God-traveled, these roads...

Happy Wednesday! I have a tree in my yard that I was certain was dead. It looked like the bad winter, capped with the early freeze, had just killed it. I had even made arrangements to have it cut down, when yesterday I started looking at it and realized it is alive! It is coming out and is going to be good.  How many times have we thought something had “killed” our spirit? Or wiped out all of our sense of kindness or patience? Or someone has truly hurt us and we feel like they have killed whatever feelings we had for them?  But if we are truly in the wardrobe God has chosen for his children, those things cant be dead, can they? They may have been frozen and take a little time to see again, but they aren’t dead. “So, chosen by God for this new life of love, dress in the wardrobe God picked out for you: compassion, kindness, humility, quiet strength, discipline. Be even-tempered, content with second place, quick to forgive an offense. Forgive as quickly and completely as the Mas...

Good Tuesday to you! Has this month started out going fast or what? I have this little problem in that I like to go fast—and do things quickly—and go quickly. My issue arises because My brain and my body disagree on my age. My brain says “go for it!” In the same way it did when I was 18...however my body’s screams back “I can’t keep up with that—I’m 60!” Hence even carting in groceries results in blood because the 12 pack of LaCroix slipped and of course, my thin skin just pealed —the 112th thing that no one told me would happen as I age gracefully.  Things just seem to get the best of us as we age—and sometimes, we obsess over them—even the silliest of things. Things that we do to try to prove to ourselves that we aren’t as old as everyone else or that we are more fit or we should “win” this game of life. A friend was talking to me yesterday about life vs death and we agreed, no one gets out of this place alive. We are going to die—100% of us. But the glorious end of the story is...

Good Monday morning! Did the winds blow where you live last week? They certainly did in Webb City. This is a 2-story treehouse of Casey’s neighbor. It is no more.  But it’s the beginning of a new week and I love a fresh start. They’ll have to remove the old treehouse, but with a cleaning and leveling, they’ll have a fresh start in their back yard. We have an example in Peter of someone else who like a fresh start every now and again. Peter, a bit like me, had no filter when he spoke—if he thought it he said it. But as I tell my friends, you never have to wonder!  Peter would do so great and be sold out to Jesus and then the winds would start to blow and he would sink. Or at least begin to sink because Jesus never left him alone to sink completely. And when our aids blow, we can rest assured he will never leave us either.  Jesus knew Peter was special— “And I tell you, you are Peter, and on this rock I will build my church, and the gates of hell shall not prevail against ...

Happy weekend! I hope this finds you well and “ready to go” this weekend. Two days ago, I read a page that my grandson wrote in a book called “The best part of me...” His was an explanation of why his strong arms were his greatest asset. He said his arms were sting and powerful. I took a picture of it and the more I look at that and read it, I think of these few verses.  Paul is telling Timothy that some are just in it for the money, but he needs to stay strong and “Fight the good fight!” “But you, Timothy, man of God: Run for your life from all this. Pursue a righteous life—a life of wonder, faith, love, steadiness, courtesy. Run hard and fast in the faith. Seize the eternal life, the life you were called to, the life you so fervently embraced in the presence of so many witnesses...I’m charging you before the life-giving God and before Christ, who took his stand before Pontius Pilate and didn’t give an inch: Keep this command to the letter, and don’t slack off. Our Master, Jesus C...

Happy Friday! Ready for the weekend? Yesterday, Georgia and I were talking about endings and beginnings. In order to have a good, fresh beginning, you have to be brave enough to let other things end. The example she gave me was advice she’d heard about time with God. When there is much weighing you down, pour all of that out first. Get rid of the burdens and frustrations you carry and just give them all to Jesus. Then, you can start with an empty vessel for him to fill. It’s tough for the Spirit of God to consume you when you are consumed already. True? It takes the ending or letting go of stuff to truly set the stage for a new filling. Here in the last section of Galatians, Paul is pretty much saying the same thing. You can’t be full of the Spirit if you let the Law or pride or anything else take up space. Empty yourself of yourself so to speak.  As Paul brings his letter to a close, he points out that his handwriting is really large.  It's just a little personal comment like...

Good Thursday to you! I have been constantly amazed that as we have progressed through this book of Galatians, it has shown me something that has happened to me just that day or the day before. It’s as though God says “See, I told you!” My friend Alan calls those “God winks” when little things “happen” and you know they did’t “just” happen. He is big and He cares about the small details of our lives. I can tell you, the people of God truly cared and prayed for me to regain my health and my strength, as well as take care of me. And as I once again prepared to pack at another place, my friend Hollie stepped in to take over when I couldn’t finish. Yes, people of God caring for one another.  In 6:7-10, Paul reminds us that if we invest in the works of the flesh, we'll receive the corruptibility that comes with that.  But if we invest in the Spirit, we'll reap life that will go on and on and on. This is not just true for individuals.  Remember, Paul's letter was not to indivi...

Good morning! I hope things have been going well for you. I’ve been sick—not so sure what it was, but I can tell you that it’s not anything you want! I’m very thankful that I was in a good place with good people to care for me—to help me bear this burden of sickness. Because when someone in your house or family, or even group is sick, it becomes everyone’s issue. That’s what Paul is telling us here about sin—that one persons sin becomes all of ours to help out with, just as we would if they fell ill.  There is a lot of good, pastoral advice packed into this first verses of chapter 6. Every sentence or two could easily be its own devotional meditation. First, Paul tells us that, if someone sins, we should gently work to restore that person.  We don't shame them.  We don't isolate them.  We don't stop spending time with them.  It has sometimes been said that, "The Christian army is the only army that shoots its wounded." But we also don't pretend like nothing ha...