Joy in the Journey

“Or again how can anyone enter a strong man’s house and carry off his possessions unless he first ties up the strong man? Then he can rob his house.” Matthew 12:29   The other day my daughter Laura shared a news story with me. Laura and I are similar in many ways but take very differing roads when it comes to “news.” She is an avid follower, even to the point of getting alerts on her phone. (Frankly I’m not really sure what that even entails.)   I take in just enough information to vote responsibly and that is often too much for me.           Therefore, I half-listened as she recounted the story of looming danger and how close it was coming to our own neighborhood. My attention was divided, not at all evenly, because I am threatened by a few things that could hit much closer to home, our actual home. As Laura filled me in on the global danger, my mind rolled over my options in the more personal arena.   How much should I say? What if….? How will I explain? Those questions

  The Lord is close to the brokenhearted and saves those who are crushed in spirit. Psalm 34:18   Over the last few days I have been praying for my friend’s son and his wife. A week or so ago my friend shared that her son’s wife was having a health crisis. Up until that point it seemed that everything was going their way. They are young and healthy. They both have great jobs, just bought a house and were planning to take a family vacation. Things were great, right up until they weren’t. It all happened suddenly and began with what appeared to be a minor injury. That injury became a much more serious issue and within just a matter of hours it was obvious that there was no simple fix, no cure.           It was a few days before my friend and her husband could leave their jobs to go to their son’s home, several hours from their own. They arrived fairly early in the morning. When their son saw them he went straight to his father, fell into his arms and began weepi

  In the beginning was the Word and the Word was with God and the Word was God. He was with God in the beginning. John 1:1   The other day I heard a teaching on the wrong way to study the Bible. The speaker made some very valid points. I agreed with most of what she had to say. One thing she said bothered me a bit. She said that we should never just open the Bible and expect to receive a message from God. In fact she said that was dangerous. She gave a few extreme examples to prove her point and while I understood and somewhat agreed with her theory, there is another side to the story.           Do you like to look at photos? I love it! I love spending time looking at pictures. Considering how many photo albums I have, not to mention plastic bins, yes, bins plural, of shoe boxes full of loose pictures, there are plenty to look through. It’s fun to see the images and remember when they were captured. Some of my pictures are so familiar that if I had the talent, I could dra