Bonnie asked, “What are your hopes for Christmas?” Our sons get the same question, starting around early November and intensifying at the family Thanksgiving get-together. The question comes from grandparents and aunts and uncles: “What do you want for Christmas?”
They always answer, at least initially, with silence and shoulder shrugs. Maybe they [...]
In Rosemary Wells’s Through the Hidden Door, Snowy Cobb leads Barney Penniman to a cave, day after day. But this is Snowy’s secret cave, so he always leads Barney there blindfolded. Much later, when Barney has to find the cave without Snowy to lead him, he has no blindfold. Now, with his [...]
High Calling Blogs Book Club:
The Right to Write:
An Invitation and Initiation into the Writing Life,
by Julia Cameron
Visit High Calling Blogs on May 10, when Laura Boggess will lead our discussion (and share links to other posts) on this week’s chapters.
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Charles (my husband and our Children’s Sunday School Superintendent) proposed a through-the-Bible teaching schedule so that, [...]
And the people relied on the words of Hezekiah king of Judah.
- 2 Chronicles 32:8b
What words? These are people pursued and harrassed by Sennacherib, king of an unthinkably ruthless nation. King Sennacherib of Assyria has defeated everyone else—everyone—and Judah is next. What are Hezekiah’s words that they would have such power to [...]
. . . you did awesome deeds beyond our highest expectations . . .
- Isaiah 64:3
Father, this is how You bless.
My cup overflows, indeed.
I asked
but asked so little—
so small and meager
were my expectations
compared to the bounty
of You
who make me, a cripple,
not merely hobble along
but leap—You
who open my blind eyes
not for a mere colorless blur
but for [...]
The statement is true: if I seek the Lord, I will find Him. I found Him that cold day.
On a cold day the boys wanted to play and run at the park. Being a fair-weather athlete, I did not. It was the kind of cold that made your breath visible, the kind [...]
Too many times I see the clock show 2:00 a.m. A nervousness burns in my legs, and they twitch at having to hold still under the sheets. My heart beats fast, pumping blood to the lump in my throat. I minimize my frame into a ball and tuck the covers under me, [...]
Without looking
my child reached up
for my hand,
knowing it was there.
I, too, reach up,
knowing.
Do not fear, for I am with you;
Do not anxiously look about you, for I am your God.
I will strengthen you, surely I will help you,
Surely I will uphold you
with My righteous right hand.
- Isaiah 41:10
(A High Calling Blogs Random Act of Poetry)
Two of our little ones slipped away, never knowing breath in their lungs or air on their pores. After tears, and fears still lingering, I prayed for another and did not have to wait long. Thank God!
But I did not maintain the thankfulness. Twelve weeks into the most physically and emotionally difficult [...]
They said to Him, “Rabbi (which translated means Teacher), where are You staying?”
He said to them,
“Come, and you will see.”
(John 1:38-39)
Where.
Colorado. The grocery store. Academy Boulevard. Under a tree.
Behind me. Out the door. Two hundred miles away.
Bethlehem. Nazareth. Golgotha.
These are places. Where.
We live in frames, our [...]
...to Know-Love-Obey God
