A wise woman once cautioned my teenage self to be careful to not allow “things to do, places to go, people to see” to crowd out the time needed for rest, mental processing, and creativity. I can’t help but think that, had she lived to see the screeching halt to which much of our busyness…
Thoughts From the Forest
When the burdens of heart are weighty, When conflict and questions surround And the gloom of soul will not be banished By dawn of day or light of Word And all around seems dark, Then beckons the sunlight: “Come.” And so I come, Leaving behind the din of city, The clamor of neighbor and passersby,…
“Earth has no sorrow that heaven can’t heal.”
“Earth has no sorrow that heaven can’t heal.” That’s a line from a David Crowder song I heard recently, and it’s been on my mind in the intervening days since. Loss and sorrow have intruded into the lives of all, but they seem especially concentrated in recent months. From loss of income to loss of…
Perspective
This week’s thoughts are brought to you courtesy once again of our nightly tradition of hymns at bedtime. This time, my attention was caught by the second verse of Annie S. Hawks’ “I Need Thee Every Hour”: I need Thee every hour, Stay Thou nearby; Temptations lose their pow’r When Thou art nigh. I need…
Recent Reads, Volume VII
A brief summary of what I’m currently reading or have recently finished, why I read it, and whether I’d recommend it. Although really, it’d have to be truly terrible for me to bother writing about a book I wouldn’t recommend…… The Secrets We Kept (Lara Prescott) – Historical fiction about the CIA’s efforts to smuggle…
Dangerous Prayer
New City Catechism, question #40: “What should we pray?” Answer: “The whole Word of God directs and inspires us in what we should pray, including the prayer Jesus Himself taught us.” Scripture abounds with exhortations to pray, and examples for us to follow. We see there a variety of types of prayer: prayers that lament…
Waiting
We’ve all experienced periods of waiting. Often it may seem like all we do is wait – for the next milestone in life, be it a birthday, graduation, wedding, or birth of a child; for the kids’ bedtime to finally arrive; for the sun to rise after another sleepless night; for the line in the…
Why Bother (Studying Theology)?
This post has been quite a while in coming – since September, actually, and it has been brought to the forefront of my mind multiple times since then – in October in a devotional, in January again, February, March, and again last week as I was reading excerpts from Tim Keller’s book on prayer. It’s…
Recent Reads, Volume VI
A brief summary of what I’m currently reading or have recently finished, why I read it, and whether I’d recommend it. Although really, it’d have to be truly terrible for me to bother writing about a book I wouldn’t recommend…… Not Forsaken (Jennifer M. Greenberg) – don’t pick this up on a whim. The subtitle…
Taking Thoughts Captive
The timing couldn’t be more perfect for our 2 Corinthians study, covering chapter 10 mid-way through the second week of an official “stay-at-home” order here in Ohio, and almost a month into social distancing efforts. I don’t know about you, but over here, there are plenty of thoughts that need to be taken captive to…