Those who live in the shelter of the Most High will find rest in the shadow of the Almighty. Psalm 91:1

The wind is picking up, thunder is rolling through the surrounding hills, and the air is crackling with electricity. A storm is brewing and it looks to be a big one. We, here in the Ozarks, are no strangers to violent storms and this year has been a particularly busy one. Wind and hail have ravaged homes, taken lives, and left behind a weariness in many of us. The sound of storm sirens became all too familiar. We wondered if our property would survive the onslaught. In the aftermath, there were tree limbs to cut up and remove, sometimes entire trees were uprooted and toppled on homes and cars. And, of course, homes were often left without power, a state most of us find quite disconcerting. If we’re thinking ahead, there’ll be bottled water, non-perishable food, and batteries squirreled away for just such emergencies.

Also in the aftermath, we found the comradery of neighbors, working together on the clean-up and sharing what food we had before it spoiled. It’s amazing how people come together in times of trouble and offer help and hope to one another. I’ve felt a peace about our storms knowing that there are people around us that we can count on.

As soon as the initial clean-up is complete, we see signs of repair and rebuilding. Many of the homes in our neighborhood have new roofs, courtesy of hail damage…ours is waiting to be replaced now. Perhaps there’s a silver lining in there somewhere.

When doubts filled my mind, your comfort gave me renewed hope and cheer. Psalm 94:19 NLT

Our nation experienced a storm of a different kind on September 11, 2001. Two commercial jets were deliberately flown into the World Trade Center in New York City with devastating results. Another struck the Pentagon in Washington DC, also inflicting great damage. A fourth was forced to the ground in an empty field in Pennsylvania, once it became clear to the pilots that they were doomed and that a group of passengers, having been made aware of the other attacks, determined their plane would harm no one but them.

Two groups of people, all believing in God, all sharing a common ancestor in Abraham, yet one group lives a life based solely on Old Testament traditions, while the other puts its faith and trust in a simple man from Galilee, who rewrote history with His birth, life, death, and resurrection. We are what is known by some as “the Jesus problem,” one that needs to be eradicated, but He won’t let that happen.

We know that the Son did not come to help angels; he came to help the descendants of Abraham. Hebrews 2:16

Let that verse sink in. Jesus came to help all the descendants of Abraham if we will let Him. We find our peace amid a storm that has been raging between believers and non-believers for over two thousand years and that same peace is available to us in every storm we face today. When we remain focused on Jesus, and keep our eyes and hearts trained on Him, the storm may keep raging around us, but we will rest in a cocoon of His protection. We can get through anything with Jesus by our side. Remember Peter walked on the water as long as he kept his eyes on Jesus. It was only when he lost his focus that he began to sink.

Pastor Sarah recently told us, we need to question whether or not Jesus is in control of every aspect of our lives. If you’re experiencing a life storm right now, please take a moment and talk with my Jesus. Open your heart to Him and he’ll open His arms to you.

Nor’easters (storms) bear down on the best of us. Contrary winds. Crashing waves. They come. But Jesus still catches his children. He still extends his arms. He still sends his angels. Because you belong to him, you can have peace in the storm. Max Lucado, Anxious for Nothing

Whoever coined the phrase, ugly as sin, didn’t understand sin. It’s very attractive! Charles Tabb, from the novel, Gathering Twigs

Ken read this quote to me one day and I began to think about the truth it held. 

Have you ever really thought about what sin looks like? I don’t know about you, but I tend to see it as something ugly and vile, something so repulsive that I wouldn’t consider touching it. And in some cases, that would be true. Some evil is so blatantly obvious that it can’t be mistaken for anything but the sin it is.

In reality, most sin may as well be packaged up in fancy wrapping paper and enhanced by a glittering bow. It looks so good that ignoring it almost feels impossible. Sins can be tiny and we all tend to indulge sometimes, whether a little or a lot. When was the last time you engaged in a little neighborly chit-chat about all the other neighbors? When did you cross the street so as not to encounter someone you wanted to avoid? When did you let someone else take the blame for your mistake? Not a sin, you say, just a tiny indiscretion?

Under the right circumstances, you will do the wrong thing. You won’t want to. You’ll try not to, but you will. Why? You have a sin nature. You were born with it. We all are. Max Lucado, Because of Bethlehem

To the opposite extreme, some sins can become all-consuming. The shopping channels offer a never-ending array of glitter to choose from….and, after all, it just goes on the credit card. But what happens when the debt becomes suffocating? Or a friend offers a substance that will take away all your worries and make you feel great. Why not…it’s only this once and I really need a pick-me-up?

Sin finds its way to us in many shapes and colors. It travels toward us down wide avenues and narrow alleyways. It’s everywhere and almost always wears a very attractive and deceptive disguise. It likes to hide in dark places, often under cover of night. It creeps in when you least expect it and invariably finds you at your most vulnerable. And, in case you haven’t noticed, our culture is offering countless choices in very attractive packages.

 The heart of the human problem is the problem of the human heart. Each one of us entered the world with a sin nature. God entered the world to take it away. Max Lucado, Because of Bethlehem

So, how do we, as God’s own children, protect ourselves from the very attractive lure of sin? Talk to Him, make our personal covenant with Him, study His Word, and examine our hearts. Focus on the blessings we have rather than the glitter that seems to be missing from our lives. All that glitters is certainly not gold and what good is gold anyway? Our real treasure is truly in heaven.

A lovely lady recently came calling in our backyard and made herself at home suspended between the screen room and a holly bush. Her web is a work of art, perfectly woven for maximum effectiveness in trapping insects for dinner. She can spin her web in about an hour and often eats it late in the day, rest a bit, and weave another. She never ceases to amaze me.

Her artistry begins by lofting a silken thread upon the breeze and waiting for it to attach to an object perhaps two feet away. She travels to the center of the first strand and releases another, creating a “Y” shape. She continues in this manner, using non-sticky material, until she has built a wheel, of sorts, consisting of spokes attached to an outer frame. Finally, she weaves sticky strands between her spiral strands. Her task complete, she waits on a zipper-like structure near the center of the web for a tasty morsel to wander by and fall into her trap.

My yellow garden spider is a member of a very large family of arachnids known as orb-weavers. The name is derived from the circular shape which they are equipped to weave by the addition of a third claw on each foot. Other spiders have only two. You’ll note I’m referring to my guest as a lady and that’s because the female always spins the web and once she establishes her territory she’s typically there to stay for the season. She’s also a pretty docile spider and though she uses her venom to disable smaller insects, she will only bite a person if threatened. The bite resembles that of a bee sting. She’s quite tolerant of observers and so she makes a good subject for study.

Her instincts have enabled the yellow garden spider to weave an environment that will house her babies, trap their food, and rid our yard of a tidy number of annoying or harmful insects. A fun fact about yellow garden spiders is that the much smaller male attracts the female by plucking the strings of her web. I’m not sure he creates much of a song but the movement may very well be music to her ears.

Watching her work caused me to ponder whether the first human to take two strands of some natural material in hand with thoughts of weaving it together into something useful ever spent time observing the work of an orb-weaver.

The skill of weaving has been an integral element of human survival which later translated to artistry and it began many thousands of years ago. In fact, it is believed to be the oldest craft employed by humans. Early materials were readily at hand and much more coarse than later weavings, but they provided shelter in the form of woven branches and twigs. Baskets for storing and transporting all kinds of goods were constructed from reeds. Even ship’s sails were woven of natural materials. Somewhere along the line, women in Far Eastern countries began weaving silk and flax into beautiful fabrics. Ship owners transported finished goods and raw materials from port to port, country to country, making access much easier. Women everywhere were becoming proficient at creating not only essential wares for their homes but also beautiful fabrics for clothing. And make no mistake, just as with our orb-weaver, the art of weaving was a woman’s world. In fact, her skills at weaving brought credibility as a potential wife in those societies where arranged marriages were the norm.

Around the close of the nineteenth and beginning of the twentieth centuries, the Industrial Revolution birthed along the riverbanks of our New England states, changed the rules a bit. Mechanization brought greater risks to workers in the weaving trade and men assumed the labor of the more complicated and often dangerous machines. Massive textile mills remained there for several decades before relocating to the south where raw material, namely cotton, was plentiful. In more remote parts of our country, women continued to supply their homes with hand-woven materials and offered their skills to others as a source of income.

The skill of weaving has been a part of human culture, from primitive to modern. Still today, enthusiasts weave on wooden looms, both simple and extremely complicated, creating objects for everyday use and special places of honor. From survival to artistry, weaving has been a central theme to our existence.

How did it all begin? Well, maybe with one single orb-weaving spider. But wait….someone had to create her as well. Someone had to place all the necessary materials in just the right places at just the right times. Humans had to be given the mental skills and physical abilities to

collect those materials and reason through the process. Someone has to possess the ability to weave all the necessary pieces of life’s tapestry into place according to a pre-ordained rhythm.

How can I watch that beautiful lady resting on her intricate web alongside our sunroom and not know that God is in his heaven and that He has everything under control?

God, the master weaver. He stretches the yarn and intertwines the colors, the ragged twine with the velvet strings, the pains with pleasures. Nothing escapes his reach. Every king, despot, weather pattern, and molecule are at his command. He passes the shuttle back and forth across the generations, and as he does a design emerges. Max Lucado   

(Information regarding the orb-weavers can be found on the websites of the Missouri Department of Conservation and the National Wildlife Federation.)

I am convinced that nothing can ever separate us from God’s love….neither our fears for today nor our worries about tomorrow…Romans 8:38 (excerpted)

Have you ever noticed how those pesky weeds in our yards are so hard to extract? Their determination to live is so much greater than the nice little bedding plants we find each spring in our local garden centers. And have you ever wondered why an unattractive weed is able to defy heat and drought while those beauties from said garden center sometimes die quickly even if we water them well? The answer is that the weed is native in that location. You didn’t plant it. The wind or an animal deposited a seed that sprouted and instantly set to work putting down a deep taproot in search of water. It began its life facing and overcoming the elements. Your pretty bedding plants have been pampered from their very beginning. The weed will return again if not completely eradicated, whereas the annual bedding plant will only last the season. One has deep roots, the other shallow.

And did you know that some plants once considered weeds have become staples in our garden beds? With looming water shortages and the high cost of keeping our beds moist, many gardeners are turning to native varieties….and, yes, we do have a lot of welcome weeds in our yard. They’re considered native when they have lived and reproduced in a region for a period of time and become acclimated to the local soil, moisture, and temperature conditions. For instance, I can plant coreopsis, coneflowers, and columbines as well as oak leaf hydrangea and native lilies with good assurance of a return on my labor investment. When those roots burrow down deep and create a firm foundation for the above-ground portion of the plant, my beds will be filled with happy, healthy plants that will provide beautiful blooms for many years.  

Don’t go digging from nearby fields and wooded areas without some research though, because some natives don’t transplant well. Their aggressive taproots become severed when dug and those varieties still need to be supplied by a native plant grower or seeds from a generous neighbor. But, when all is said and done, the best path to really healthy, long-lived plants is to use the species varieties or plants that are truly native. Sometimes they aren’t as showy, but they provide very reliable foliage and blooms. Give their roots the home they crave and just be patient. Often the good weeds will crowd out the unwanted ones, but some will always remain aggressive and need to be extracted with a good shovel and a lot of elbow grease.

Sometimes we face worries, usually unexpected and often immediate, that become like weeds trying to invade the soil of our lives. We assess the concern, develop a plan that typically has a short expiration time, implement our plan, and move on. Much like the annual plant that requires lots of short-term attention to achieve good results, these worries have shallow roots.

For example, last Friday we headed out the kitchen door to go grocery shopping and discovered that our garage door wouldn’t open. A quick inspection revealed a broken spring. OK, this situation wasn’t too bad. Our car was in the garage but the truck was out. We still had transportation that didn’t involve manually handling a heavy garage door. It was, however, Friday afternoon and service-related businesses were ready to close up shop for the week-end. We did find a company online that had good reviews and they had a service opening first thing Saturday morning. Of course, I was still fidgeting over whether or not we had made the right decision. Hey, somebody has to carry the worry burden.

Our serviceman called at 7:30 AM on Saturday and said he was on his way. By 10:00 AM, we had new springs and bearings, the door was operating like new. Our worries were just a memory. Shallow roots, remember?

But there are sometimes worries that burrow deep into our souls and, just like those aggressive weeds, their roots sap nourishment from

our reserves of faith and hope, leaving behind nothing but doubts and questions. An errant child who just keeps making bad decisions well into adulthood, a health diagnosis that seems to paint every aspect of life in shades of gray, a long-term loss of income that appears to have no end in sight. Sometimes it’s simply the culture that surrounds us, seemingly void of Godly believers. We find ourselves buried under the weight of our load. And when we try to go it alone, we lack the tools to extract the root causes of our worry.

Just then a hand touched me and lifted me, still trembling, to my hands and knees…and he said, you are very precious to God….Daniel 10:10 Paraphrased

When worries enter our lives, and they will, whether they creep in slowly or descend in an instant, there is only One who can dig out those roots and help us find peace again. I truly hope you know my God, my Jesus.

Hooray! It’s finally harvest time for tomatoes, cukes, peppers, corn and squash…well, the tomatoes do seem to be dragging their feet a bit this year. As you gardeners all know, crops seem to take forever to mature and when they ripen, they all come at once. This is especially true of that rascally zucchini. Thus, many kitchens are filled with the scent of tomato juice becoming sauce or salsa, cukes soaking in the vinegar mix that will soon render them pickles and green beans simmering with new potatoes, bacon and onions. And then, there is zucchini bread! Yummmmmmy!

Even though her tomatoes are lagging, much to our delight our very generous, almost neighbor has been sharing from her bounty. Our benefactor is actually the daughter of our ninety-three-year-old neighbor and since she spends a large part of her life taking care of her mom these days she has become our “almost neighbor.” She and her husband have a farm near Pierce City where they work a very large garden. They left the ground fallow last summer and are reaping the rewards for their patience now. They are both very giving people and insist that half the fun of having a garden is being able to share the fruits of their labors with others. Thus we have enjoyed sweet corn, green beans and bell peppers and we hope there will be red ripe, juicy tomatoes in our near future.

Harvest time is great fun and very rewarding……but a lot of sweat equity goes into those veggies in order to reap the current bounty. As stated, soil sometimes needs to rest and replenish. Often it must be amended with nutrients to promote healthy growth. In spring, before anything can happen, the soil must be broken with a tiller, or a tractor and plow in larger spaces. Fertilizer or other amendments are added before seeds or tiny seedlings can be planted. Crops need to be rotated because each one depletes the soil of different nutrients as well as leaving behind various others. By changing the crop locations within the garden space each season, better productivity can be expected.  Plants, like every living thing, need water, especially during dry times, and certainly weeds need to be removed that would choke them out and use up all of the nutrients in the soil.

And even when you do everything just right, our infamous Missouri wind and hail can wipe out the best of gardens and crops. Equally infamous are the insects that feast on all our garden favorites. Gardeners and farmers invest a great deal of themselves into the production of fresh veggies to share or sell. Some years they are highly successful and others….seems like nothing goes right.

And this leads me to ponder how much time we spend cultivating the soil of our lives, what amendments we are adding and just who we’re looking to as our source of life-giving water?  

Jesus is preparing the soil of my life with goodness and mercy. He wants the  fruit of His Spirit in every area of my life.

What is the soil of our lives, you ask? Consider these questions. Who are we listening to? What books are we reading? What movies or TV shows catch our interest? Are we overly worried about how we look, the clothes we wear, the homes we live in, the cars we drive, the jobs we work at? Who are we trying to impress? How are we fitting into our current culture? How many Facebook friends can we boast of and how much time do we indulge in social media? Are these the things we allow to nourish the soil of our hearts? Tough questions, yes? Yet questions we all need to ask ourselves. If we try to nourish our souls with the things in our lives and if we’re spending so much of our lives trying to be part of the world, how can we find time to invest in our relationship with Jesus  and the mission He has extended to us? How can we be Jesus to the world if our greater desire is to be of this world?

Jesus is the spring of living water. He wants me to grow, grow, GROW!

I certainly don’t suggest you give up your home or job or even donate all your possessions to those less fortunate, but I do suggest a sincere heart inventory. If we keep laser-focused on the true Master Gardener of our hearts and souls, He will equip us to fulfill the task set before us. He’ll go with us through the storms and provide a shield against tormentors. He will nourish us with Living Water and grow us into His image.

And here I get to use my very favorite scripture passage in the entire Bible. It truly speaks to me…please let it speak to you.

“For I know the plans I have for you,” says the Lord. “They are plans for good and not for disaster,  to give you a future and a hope.” Jeremiah 29:11.

(Quotes, other than scripture, are taken from Mornings with Jesus 2024 and credited to Susanna Foth Aughtmon.)

In recent years, we’ve seen an uptick in home buyers in our town who have no intention of living in the houses they buy. They discover a tired older dwelling, strip out the dingy appliances, cabinets, and bath fixtures, often taking the place down to the studs and opening up undersized rooms to offer a more spacious and open feel. Then they’ll add new paint, shiny appliances, fancy tiles and shower heads along with some tricked out techy features to catch the eye of potential buyers. They’re typically on a short turn-around schedule and some may overlook things like outdated plumbing and wiring that can bring real danger to an unsuspecting buyer. Their end game is to make attractive cosmetic updates on a budget and resell the houses as quickly as possible. Many know what they’re doing and others….maybe not so much. Don’t get me wrong—there are lots of excellent carpenters out there who will do a great job. I’m just saying that we should always remember the old saying, “Buyer Beware,” when making large purchases.

At one level, we’re all tear-downs…Bob Goff, Live In Grace, Walk In Love

If you’ve watched TV reality shows, you’ll know that the most exciting and fulfilling segment is demo day. Everyone likes the idea of smashing their old cabinets with sledge hammers and tearing out walls for that wide open feeling. The thing is, there’s a lot more to it than slinging heavy chunks of metal at wood and drywall. For starters, is that wall you’re bashing a support wall? Is there power to that wall and have you turned it off? Of course, you say, anyone would think of that….have you really watched these shows?

While renos have been happening all over town, we’ve had a close-up experience right behind us. When we moved here, the home was owned by an acquaintance who subsequently passed away. Two or three families have since rented the home but moved on as quickly as something else became available, because, quite frankly, the home probably should have been a tear-down. We walked through it right after the former owner died and the list of problems was longer than Santa’s Christmas wish list. Our assessment….bulldoze it!

But, little by little, things have been happening. Because the house hasn’t been lived in for a couple of years and there were opportunities throughout that time for critters to find shelter there, I can’t even imagine how many must have taken advantage. It was “fixed up” just enough to be able to get someone to take a chance on renting it. And as each family left, a few cosmetic improvements were made that enticed a new renter. Following the departure of the last family, work began in earnest. Discarded furniture was carried out, carpet was pulled, and all of it burned on a giant bonfire that caught the attention of our volunteer fire department. And then nothing happened for a long while. Occasionally, we’d see a truck or two over there and maybe a big discussion going on, but no forward progress was in evidence.

If anyone is in Christ, the new creation has come: The old has gone, the new is here!

II Corinthians 5:17

Then one day, I heard a familiar contemporary Christian song drifting on the breeze. A quick search led me to its source, a young man was listening to a Christian station while tearing old siding off the house. He waved and went about his work. Soon new windows were installed and a glance through them revealed bare studs all the way through the once tangled web of rooms. Walls were being removed, floors were bare, wiring and plumbing were obvious by their absence….clearly they were taking that home back to bare bones and starting from scratch. Hopefully someday soon it will make a nice home for someone again. Ultimately, that’s what all these renovations are about.

Have you ever thought that sometimes we humans need to be taken back to a bare bones structure as well. Maybe we’ve forgotten “whose” we are. Maybe life and circumstances have worn us down until we just don’t know where to turn. Maybe we’re way past ready to give up. Are those voices in your head telling you that you’re not worthy?

If the walls of your life are crashing down, maybe God has a renovation in mind.

Bob Goff, Live In Grace, Walk In Love

Just like those tired old homes are given a bright new opportunity to house a growing family, our hearts and minds can also be renewed. And while we should exercise due diligence in our search for the right contractor to restore or renovate our homes, no search is necessary for the One needed to offer spiritual renovation or restoration. He’s right there beside us always waiting for an invitation to come inside. If your soul feels like demo day has taken control, ask Him to rebuild what He created in the first place. He’ll make you brand new again from the inside out.

I can’t. But God can. He doesn’t reform; he restores. He doesn’t camouflage the old; he restores the new. The Master Builder will pull out the original plan and restore it. He will restore the vigor. He will restore the energy. He will restore the hope. He will restore the soul.

Max Lucado, Grace for the Moment Volume I

God doesn’t force us to go places we don’t want to go and no matter which way we turn, we’ll find him already there if we’re looking. Bob Goff, Live In Grace, Walk In Love  

We recently got together with a portion of our family for some reconnecting. We were pretty shocked to learn that our youngest grandson now resembles a man rather than the boy we remembered (we hadn’t seen him in a while) and our only granddaughter, the thirteen-year-old who typically wants to steal the show and believes she knows just about everything, was actually willing to share the spotlight with her cousin.

Our son, and all but one of his family, were in from Texas. They spent some time with our older daughter and her family, seeing a Cardinals game, playing cards, laughing and recalling old times. Then they drove to Montauk State Park for some trout fishing and that’s where we caught up with them. Hiking to the springs, sharing dinner, and reminiscing a bit felt really good. I enjoyed watching my crew walk together, each one wandering back and forth between family members and getting re-acquainted. It was a great day.

After each of Joe’s family had caught at least one trout, they settled in for a good nights sleep before heading off to other wonderful natural attractions in the area and then to their last stop before heading home, the University of Missouri campus in Columbia. Joe graduated from Mizzou and would love to see his baby boy choose to go there as well. Quinn was impressed with the campus but insists that the school he eventually attends will have to come up with a pretty sweet baseball scholarship and he has a few more months to go before recruiters can approach him officially. He’s really good, and that’s not just Grandma’s opinion.

On the other hand, our older daughter’s son, Kannon, received a great scholarship to Mizzou for his pole vaulting skills. He’ll participate in their decathlete program and has a difficult learning curve ahead because he’s not competed in about half the events. But he’s a tough, all-around athlete so I have every confidence in his ability to succeed. The really nice caveat to both stories is that the boys are really good, dedicated students. Each is capable of extra scholarship awards for their academic credentials.

Two young men, one heading off to college and the other involved in the selection process, and parents who are anxious for their sons to begin this new phase of life but concerned about their response to the culture that will try to tempt them to be untrue to themselves. And I can tell you, this Grandma is plenty concerned for their safety in this crazy world we live in.

Parents everywhere will be saying goodbye to adult children heading off to college dorms or apartments. Life will change dramatically for both parent and child. The daily contact will be replaced by phone calls, text messages and visits on weekends and holidays. The transition can be difficult unless we keep in mind:

Our children are ours, and not ours. We guide them, we don’t control them. We cannot save them from the world and certainly not from outrageous fortune. We try to help where we can, including savoring their successes, but we can only do so much. Then we do what parents have done since time began: we pray. Mark Collins, Walking in Grace 2024

We’ve raised them to be independent beings, always in the knowledge that they were only on loan to us for a while. Imagine that, God trusted us with His own creation and now it’s time to let them fly.

Kannon heads out to Mizzou early to train for his track and field events, so I texted him a few days ago, texting being the chosen method of communication with our grandchildren, and offered him a few pearls of Grandma wisdom. They seem appropriate here as well….feel free to share them with your students:

Lord, You love us as Your children, have mercy on us as parents (and Grandparents)—imperfect vessels of Your perfect love. Mark Collins, Walking In Grace 2024

This past Sunday morning we were cruising down a back road toward church and I was babbling on about someone who just needed to make some adjustments to the way they’re doing things. After all, I probably know more about the issues they’re facing than they do, don’t I?

And suddenly, a tiny voice inside my head said, “Mind your own business, Marcy.” Really, Lord? I’m older, I have much more experience and, obviously, I know more about how they should live their lives than they do.

And, like a flash of lightening, I recalled that just a couple of weeks ago, pastor Dennis used that less than pleasant phrase, mind your own business, in his sermon. What’s more, he claimed it was in the Bible. It got a pretty good chuckle out of the congregation, myself included, and then it escaped my mind as quickly as it had entered. That is, until the next morning.

You may recall my writing about a sudden Sunday morning power outage which caused some detours in my usual routine. I always read my devotionals on my iPad, and that works fine, even when our electrical sources fail, because they’re downloaded, no internet required. My verse of the day, however, is delivered by e-mail and it hadn’t reached my iPad. I gave it no more thought and continued stumbling along without power, forgetting completely that my phone had a signal.

The next morning, when my e-mail came up, the previous day’s verse popped up also and what do you suppose it said?

“Make it your goal to live a quiet life, minding your own business…” I Thessalonians 4:11a.

Apparently, I needed a reminder. In recent days…OK it was weeks, I’d been covertly critical of family members and neighbors about some of their habits. At least, I had the good sense not to let my thoughts take voice, except for a few minor infractions, but who am I kidding. Our God knows every thought, no matter how fleeting, that crosses our minds. And those thoughts hurt Him just as badly as our spoken words and misplaced actions.

I encountered Pastor Dennis in the Commons area on Sunday morning and shared the whole story with him and we exclaimed, once again, how our topics are so often the same, though this time I was a little slow on the upload. We had a good laugh at our own expense, and I moved on into the sanctuary for the last service.

But the thought kept nagging at me…I had been mentally hard on those around me in recent weeks. When Pastor Sarah prayed before serving Communion, she touched my heart, and I knew it was time for me to bring this bad habit of mine before the Lord. I needed to lay this burden on His altar and leave it there, but then, there’s my other bad habit. That one would be picking up those worries I leave behind and stewing over them some more. I know better, but I can’t seem to do better. I’m trying, Lord, I really am!

So, when you finish reading, I’d like to ask a favor of you. Would you please pray for me. I need all the help I can muster to curb these nasty habits and leave them where they belong….in the very capable hands of my Lord.

Thank you, Lord, that while I grow and make mistakes, you will always remind me that, of course, you still love me. Nicole Garcia, Walking in Grace 2024

As a mostly self-taught artist, I’ve spent significant time studying works of a variety of different types of artists, and it has become obvious that the mind can use the hand to create many different emotions with just a few pen or brushstrokes. A painting or drawing can display anger, or it can express joy. It can evoke disgust or cause a giggle to erupt. Through the lens of these visual snapshots, we can learn much about the artist. Is this person one who thrives on controversy or one who is led “beside peaceful streams?”

With God in your world, you aren’t an accident or an incident; you are a gift to the world, a divine work of art, signed by God. Max Lucado, In the Grip of Grace

And just as an artist can evoke countless emotions in a visual image, so can a few well-placed instigators among a crowd create a wave of dissent using just a couple of taunts. Soon those nearby are joining the chant and in very short order, the entire crowd is whipped into a frenzy. As the instigators steal away under cover, the mob grows and grows until there is no controlling it. It happened in Jerusalem to Jesus. It can happen anytime, anywhere with a minimum of planning and provocation.

Most of the crowd is probably made up of hard-working ordinary people who get carried away in the moment. Many didn’t come to that place or that time to find themselves in danger from law enforcement or elements of the crowd. And everyone of them is redeemable if they choose to be. You read that right…if they choose.

The best example I know of radical change is the Apostle Paul. By his own admission, he was one of the most aggressive persecutors of Christians in his day and yet after being overwhelmed by a light so bright that it brought him to his knees and left him blind, he heard the voice of Jesus and turned his life around. We all have that choice. Our encounter with Jesus may not reach the level of Paul’s but there will be a time of reckoning for each of us. Some will never accept the Word of God because they choose not to, but others are redeemable just like Paul. Our job is to stand up and, as Pastors Dennis and Sarah are telling us each Sunday this summer, act out the truths we hold dear regarding the reality of the need for Jesus in this hurting world.

What makes us special is…the signature of God on our lives. We are His works of art. We are created in his image to do good deeds. We are significant, not because of what we do, but because of whose we are. Max Lucado, In the Grip of Grace.

Sunday morning, a phrase in Pastor Sarah’s opening prayer really caught my attention. I can’t quote her exactly but it essentially said we all need to fall on our knees asking for redemption before we can raise our hands in praise to God. Paul was our example and I can think of no better one to follow.

Back in 1965, the writing team of Burt Bacharach and Hal David put together a song that became a top-ten hit. Bacharach, however, was uncertain about the timing because we were in the midst of a culture struggle over differences of opinion regarding the war in Vietnam. Oddly enough, that environment softened a bit with the leading words to their song: What the world needs now is love sweet love …. It’s the only thing that there’s just too little of.

A truer statement was never made. And the word love finds its most profound meaning in the name of Jesus.

We are tasked with bringing a little Jesus into the lives of everyone we encounter, our words and actions should reflect His image. Some may see H is light and come to redemption, others may not. We can encourage an environment of love and grace, but they will have to choose, and eternity is a very long time.

For the Lord is the spirit, and wherever the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom…And the Lord—who is the Spirit—makes us more and more like him as we are changed into his glorious image. II Corinthians 3:17-18