God of the Undercurrent
A number of weeks ago, I woke up in the middle of the night. As I lay still in the darkness, trying to fall back to sleep, I sensed the Lord speak to me. “Ruth postured herself in a position to receive blessing from Boaz.”
To be honest, I was a bit startled by God's clarity and a tad puzzled by His randomness. I didn’t . . .
Posted in: #characterdevelopment#guidance
Horrible, Candle-Snuffing Words
Recently on a quiet Friday evening, I pulled out a DVD of one of my favorite movies. Near the beginning of "Finding Neverland," the playwright, J.M. Barrie meets a jaded young boy named Peter. Unimpressed with Mr. Barrie's vivid imagination, young Peter remains aloof. And when the playwright suggests that his dog, Porthos, be a bear in a . . .
Posted in: #encouragingothers#hope#relationships
The Youngest One in the Room
In Job 32, we are introduced to a person named Elihu. To be honest, he just seems to appear out of nowhere. There is no mention of him for 31 chapters, yet when he begins to speak, it is clear that he had been present in the room to hear the lengthy dialogue between Job, Eliphaz the Temanite, Bildad the Shuhite, and Zophar the Naamathite.
. . .Posted in: #fear#leadership#ministry#workplace
30 Things in 30 Years
"Mentionables" in our Journey of Grief.
In the movie, "A Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood," one of the main characters makes a poignant statement that is the springboard for this entry. In his gentle, thoughtful, and intentional way of love, Mr. Rogers says to the family surrounding the bedside of a dying man, “You know, death is something many of us are uncomfortable . . .
The God Who is Willing to Go There
A few years ago, my wife and I were privileged to spend a long birthday weekend in South Carolina with two other couples. The large lakehouse was cozy and beautiful and the fellowship was rich and nourishing to my soul.
On one of our afternoon trips, we explored an incomplete railroad tunnel dug by hand into Stumphouse Mountain. The . . .
Posted in: #assurance#fear#healing
Take Out the Trash
We have a trashcan under our kitchen sink. It's an odd size in the fact that small garbage bags are too small and "kitchen size" bags are, well, too large. While we've opted to use the latter, the reality is that even when the trashcan is full, there is still room in the bag. So, we've gotten in the habit of pulling the partially filled bag . . .
Posted in: #assurance#characterdevelopment
Context is Everything
A bit of background: The medical facility where I serve houses more than ten clinics offering care for both adult and pediatric patients. And while the building is filled with a variety of different providers every day, there is one constant: the complex software that everyone uses to serve our patients, ironically named EPIC.
Within . . .
