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...