(Lessons learned from three fawns and a coupla’ mamas…)
Careful where you wander – you may wind up in the devil’s driveway.
Know where to run for safety.
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Photos
Had coffee with a sweet friend last week. She was describing the amazing things the Lord has worked in her life over the summer as she has gone through a wonderfully painful, gloriously gut-wrenching season. Each day the Lord has brought new strength, insights, healing, and refreshing as she prepares for a future that is far less certain… but far more peaceful.
Did you get that?
Far less certain, but far more peaceful.
Like many people, she had defined peace and satisfaction in terms of being able to predict what the future held (among other things). Now as she returns to school, she heads off into an unknown destiny, with lots of uncertainties. But she has a phenomenal peace that she is being held right in the center of God’s heart and hand.
Here’s how she expressed it to me. I was so touched, I wanted to share it with you (my paraphrase): [click to continue…]
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They spend the first fifth of their lives exposing rookie parents
To the uncharted waters of raising adults.
They accept without much discussion the role of
Domestic Prime Minister or House Speaker –
While they’re idolized by younger siblings
And held to higher standards by parents. [click to continue…]
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It takes time and intention, this Soul-Anchoring Moment,
And a willingness to wait for those fleeting experiences
That are tomorrow’s soul roots.
(Did I mention a willingness to wait?)
A Soul-Anchoring Moment…
Maybe it’s the possibility of holding all of your scattered grandchildren in one day.
Or a chance to hear again the sounds common to your birthplace
And sigh with satisfaction at the most trivial and most special of memories. [click to continue…]
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Dear Jackson,
You entered our world today, July 14, 2011, the firstborn of a very excited and grateful Mom and Dad (weary, too, but who cares?). Every Daddy and Mommy are excited about the birth of a baby. But I have never met a man more ready, more yearning, more longing to see his son than your father. Just last night he told us on the phone, “I’m not worried – just anxious.” Believe me, you were worth the wait. To him. To your Mommy. To all of us.
Already, in the short time we have held you, watched your first bath and all the other things that go with saying hello to a newborn, you have filled our hearts. I wonder if you’ll always like having your hair washed like you did that first time. I wonder if, when you’re my age, you’ll have hair to wash, but we can talk about that later.
That was your Grammy who was doing all the galloping (yes, galloping) and hooting over you. [click to continue…]
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Where does she get this stuff? I know that verse about “out of the mouths of babes,” but seriously? So here’s the story…
Kyle, my son-in-law, had been away on his second mission trip in three weeks – this one to Ecuador. Back home, Carrie was shepherding Shepherd and corralling the one she calls the “Big Sasster.”
A certified Daddy’s girl, Laura Kate was ecstatic when he got back. There back at the casa, Sassy Pants exclaimed, “This is our castle and our king has come home!”
All was well.
The promise of “soon” was replaced with the presence of “the king.” And she was once again with the man she loves more than all others.
And out of the mouth of a babe – well, technically a three-year-old – God perfected praise.
If only she knew – and one day she will… [click to continue…]
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(With humble apologies to the Mary Stevenson Estate)
One night I dreamed that I was dipping my feet in the dog’s water bowl
And walking the lonely journey across my patio,
Leaving wet footprints along the way.
Soon I noticed tiny little footprints appearing behind mine.
[click to continue…]
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When it comes to relationships, are you a builder or a buster? I’ve known both, and I’m sure you have, too.
Relationship builders are liked. Respected. Trusted. They believe in the deep, abiding value of relationships with others, and invest their lives in nurturing them. But they also seem to go about relationship building in an almost-effortless way.
Relationship busters are different. They may get along with anybody for a season, but sooner or later their relationships tend to blow up or fall apart. Or they live in constant relationship drama.
One of the things I have learned about relationships is that a large part of them are an inside job. That is, there is a difference between the way builders and busters think. And whatever controls your thinking right now establishes the course of your relationships for a long time.
In his letter to the Colossians, Paul writes from a Roman prison and encourages them to engage in linking thinking: [click to continue…]
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A man was brought into court for trial and found guilty. The judge happened to be a close boyhood friend of the accused, although they had not seen each other for many years. Remaining impartial, the judge sentenced the defendant and levied a penalty – a fine – appropriate to his crime. The fine was so large that the accused could not pay it, so a jail sentence seemed to be the only alternative.
The judge then did a very unusual thing. Leaving the bench, he approached the convicted man, shook his hand, and announced, “I’m paying the fine for you.” There in the courtroom the law was satisfied, and so was love.
Beautiful justice. Scandalous love.
What a picture of the cross.
At the wonderful, tragic, mysterious tree
On that beautiful, scandalous night you and me
Were atoned by His blood and forever washed white
On that beautiful, scandalous night.
The ultimate intersection: two beams connected, the vertical and the horizontal. One pointed to God, one reached out to man. And there, suspended between heaven and earth, the Prince of Glory was judged in love.
The ultimate paradox: how could something so ugly be so beautiful?
The ultimate collision: sin met grace.
The ultimate demonstration: the love of God and the sin of man.
The ultimate betrayal: thirty stinking pieces of silver for the life of the Son of God.
The ultimate rejection: unconditional love, hammered through with nails.
The ultimate ransom: innocent blood for guilty humanity.
Beautiful justice. Scandalous love. [click to continue…]
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The Flintstones Vitamins people reminded us in 1987 that “this world takes a little growing into.” That’s why it’s important to remember, however big or small you are, or however much you need to grow, to…
…advance boldly in the direction of your dreams…
…hold on to a stronger hand…
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