Joy in the Journey

  In the same way I tell you, there is rejoicing in the presence of the angels of God over one sinner who repents. Luke 15:10 For this son of mine was dead and is alive again; he was lost and is found. So they began to celebrate. Luke 15:24 My granddaughter Faith is currently living with us. Any time she leaves the house and returns she announces, “I'm heeeeere!” She knows that having her here with us is a great source of joy. She knows that we miss her when she is gone and are happy when she returns. She knows this because she is secure in our love. In his book, “The Return of the Prodigal” Henri Nowen talks about the deep love of the Father for all of His children, wayward or not (although frankly I don't know anyone who's never been a wayward child). The story of the prodigal illustrates how our Father actively waits for us. The prodigal returns broken and apologetic but the father isn't looking for apologies. We all wander off, far for an hour, a...

  In addition to all this, take up the shield of faith, with which you can extinguish all the flaming arrows of the evil one. Ephesians 6:16   It seems that there are people who in order to prove their point, to demonstrate the validity of their claims find attacking the faith of their adversary the best way to go. Fair enough if the faith of the adversary can be called into question. We all know plenty of nominal Christians who cherry pick the Gospel for their own ends. I am not one of those and yet this isn’t the first time my loyalty to my Father has been questioned. My faith is not hidden. There is no bowl over my light. (Matthew 5:15) Having ignored this type of attack before I was a little taken back at my own reaction the other day when it happened again. The circumstances surrounding the remarks are entirely too ludicrous to explain. Suffice to say that someone didn’t like a choice I made and turned a molehill into Everest. My dear husband and sweet daughter...

The Sovereign Lord is my strength; he makes my feet like the feet of a deer, he enables me to go on the heights. Habakkuk 3:19   Yesterday I had the blessing of spending the day with one of my oldest and dearest friends. Pete and I went to kindergarten through twelfth grade together. We’re a part of that rare generation of Catholic school kids who stayed put for all of our school years. That was many years ago as Pete was quick to remind me yesterday as a rather weighty reunion lurks in the near future.           It is always a pleasure to spend the day with Pete. We have our annual visit every year at Easter. Occasionally we squeeze in an extra visit but we can always count on Easter weekend.           To say that Pete lives a different lifestyle than my husband and I is a vast understatement. Our home would fit easily into one of his garages. He jets off here and cruises off...

“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 sh...

  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 stra...

  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...

  He who dwells in the shelter of the Most High will rest in the shadow of the Almighty. I will say of the Lord, “He is my refuge and my fortress my God in whom I trust.” Psalm 91:1-2   Security. What just came to your mind when you read that word? Was there a name, a face, the idea of a job, a place or maybe a dollar amount that came to mind? Whatever we think of when we hear the word, no matter how varied our responses may be, one thing is certain, we all want it.           This year for Christmas my husband gave me a book by an author I really like. The book is called, “Somewhere Safe With Somebody Good.” It’s a great book. I really enjoyed. Before I ever read one page, however, I thought, with a sense of deep awe and gratitude, that’s where I live! My husband is as good to me as I can imagine that any man can be to any woman. He’s not perfect but he is kind, silly, hardworking, stubborn, caring, lovel...