banquet and feast

Intimacy with God During Exile

Are you experiencing a new, even desperate, yearning for intimacy with God? Maybe it’s just me, but this pandemic has given me a deeper longing. Written for those experiencing discouragement, attack, and loneliness in exile, Isaiah 35 describes my longing well…maybe it will encourage you too. Five S’s leap from Read more

When We All Get to Heaven

Singing Christ’s hope into suffering includes singing of heaven as He releases our grip on this world. Before the Lord graciously drew us to Himself in Christ, we had no hope and were without God in the world. But now in Christ Jesus, we have been brought near by the blood of Christ (Eph. 2:13 ESV)! Read more

God Knows

I’ve realized that we teachers continually gaze to future. We create broad learning outcomes for students in our care and then artistically sculpt logical and detailed plans for every month, week and day. We become creators, molders, shapers, and potters who can visualize future beauty in each student as we Read more

God is good all the time

Singing Praise in Hard Change

One minute, things are fine. The next minute something suddenly changes. A hassle, a broken, a phone call, a mess, a tragedy. Suddenly, life changes and things are not fine. But are they good?  Somehow?  It’s ALL good If God is Father of all, who is over all and through all and in all (Eph. 4:6 ESV) and He Read more

trust hope in God

Reset of trust: Jesus is our present and future hope

“There is no future hope. The doctors say so. Not for continued life on this earth, anyway.” https://laurihogle.com/about/ “There is no hope. The news anchors say so. There is no future hope.”  “Things will never be the same again. Everyone says so.”  “Everything is crashing and life plans seem totally ruined Read more

Turnaround…Returning to rest

I am not at rest today. Weary (Lam. 5:8), pain-filled (Job 30:17), wanting escape (Ps. 55:6). I am quarantined in my house, but don’t feel restfully at home. I need re-turning, returning and rest. In Western music, home is often a musical ending. The final “authentic cadence” arrives at a Read more

A Wilderness To-Do List

I am a planner. As a teacher, I love planning backwards from goals, creating objectives and experiences for students. I love day planners, to-do lists, lesson plan templates. I look forward to events and gleefully plan details. Now, lists are shredded with canceled, ended plans and I’m left with an Read more

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