Phillip’s down, and he thinks he’s out.
Life hasn’t been kind to the 33-year-old; in fact, life has been brutally unfair. In just one calendar year, Phillip left his friends due to a job transfer, lost the job that transferred him due to downsizing, suffered an excruciating ankle break in a pick-up basketball game, and separated from his wife of seven years, though they are working on things.
Phillip tries to be hopeful when everything around him feels fatal. But he can’t mask the confusion. How can a year that started with such promise and confidence leave him feeling so lost and broken? How can a life driven with such expectancy just a few months ago feel so aimless now?
But what Phillip can’t see because he’s in too deep is how close he is to the Circle’s End.
Karen can’t believe her eyes, but there’s no mistaking that little “plus” sign. After months and months of futility, what she has dreamed of all her life is finally happening. She’s going to have a baby. That’s a much better explanation for that morning nausea than “stomach flu.”
The enchantment she and her husband are feeling is surely a precursor of things to come. The family they both have dreamed of. The joy and delights of holding that little one for the first time. The expectancy that life has made a turn for the better, and there is nowhere to go but forward.
And she’s right… to a point. But just as tides ebb and flow, Karen will eventually reach the Circle’s End.
However you would classify your circumstances, one thing is certain – they’re anything but still. [click to continue…]
Do you like mysteries? The kind that lead you through twists and turns, only to score with a surprise ending that makes you say, “Whoa!”?
I have one for you. It’s all about a man named Ahithophel.
Ahitho-who?
Ahithophel.
If you’re like most people, you’ve probably never heard of him. But he’s right there, in high-definition, during the reign of King David in the Bible. In fact, the Bible says something about this man that I don’t recall ever having read about anyone else, except the Lord Jesus:
Now in those days the advice Ahithophel gave was like that of one who inquires of God. That was how both David and Absalom regarded all of Ahithophel’s advice (2 Samuel 16:23).
Get this. Both David and Absalom assumed that if Ahithophel spoke it, it was as if God was doing the talking. That’s pretty high praise and respect. I don’t remember hearing that said of Moses, Jeremiah, or Daniel – as wonderful as those men were. Ahithophel must have been some kind of man of God.
Now… fast forward exactly one chapter, and you’ll read this: [click to continue…]
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…
[click to continue…]
Somewhere in the places where sighs give way to hope and promises sing to aching hearts, your soul waits for something different. More than the pleasure of a passing moment or those 15 minutes of look-at-me, you were created with a craving soul. “He has planted eternity in the human heart,” Solomon said, “but even so, people cannot see the whole scope of God’s work from beginning to end.”
One day – sooner rather than later – that craving will be satisfied. And not by what the pavement is made of or what the real estate market is like past the pearly gates. Not by something that resembles Sunday morning at the church house, Monday noon at the White House, or Friday night at the penthouse. Craving souls are smarter and deeper than that.
One day – nearer rather than farther – tired hearts, stale relationships and flyblown religion will give way to a new dawn. And at long last your soul will taste satisfaction. Ashes will give way to beauty. You’ll trade your mourning in for the oil of joy. You’ll wear a garment of praise – complete with dancing shoes – instead of a spirit of heaviness. In the satisfaction of the soul… [click to continue…]
Constantly in motion, ever-aware, always alert both night and day, an unseen force is shaping your life in ways you can’t imagine.
Ever-learning.
Ever-revealing.
The algorithms behind this crawler make Google look, in comparison, like a nearsighted man searching for a haystack in a needle factory.
He sees you when you’re sleeping and knows when you’re awake. But I’m not referring to the jolly old elf. I’m talking about the Ultimate Search Engine. But it’s not an “it” – it’s a Person. [click to continue…]
We welcomed you into a world that you have already become a part of – but now we’ve finally met. And though I have only held you once, you already occupy a place of deep connection, belonging, and love in my heart.
Today, March 9, 2011, the world can be a scary place. As a newborn American citizen, I’m sorry to tell you that you already owe more money than you can repay in your lifetime – most of it to people who don’t live here. The Communist government in China wants to take over the reincarnation process (I don’t even know where to start with that). And a bully in the Middle East is clinging to power, whatever the cost.
But while the future is uncertain, it is no more so than the world our Lord Jesus entered two thousand years ago. And His life, death, and resurrection casts a much greater beacon of hope than the shadows of a fearful world could ever compete with.
You have been born into a loving family, who has established their home first and foremost on a steadfast love for God. You have the unique distinction of having a big sister – and if anyone was ever born for the role, she is. [click to continue…]
Did you that Visine WILL clean out your nose if you squirt it in? But neither Johnson & Johnson nor I recommend that you use it for that purpose. (Don’t ask me how I know.)
+++++++
There are two ways to learn by experience – be amazing without realizing it, or be imperfect and realize it. Either way, it helps to have someone else to help you do the realizing. The word for that is, “teacher” or “mentor.”
If you’re amazing and know it, fine. But that’s not learning. If you’re imperfect and remain clueless about it, that’s not learning either, because you’re still, well, clueless.
The role of the teacher or mentor is to be a “realization specialist.” Sometimes that means being a passionate encourager. Sometimes it means being an honest critic. Always, it means pointing toward excellence and inviting someone to join you on that journey.
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Be amazing in your grace. [click to continue…]
Ever hear of Harry Hartman?
Probably has the distinction of having the shortest major league baseball career ever.
Harry was a gifted Dodgers ballplayer whose day of glory arrived in 1918 when he was called up from the minors to pitch against the Pittsburgh Pirates. This was the moment he’d dreamed about, the beginning of a great career!
But Harry’s dreams began to fade when his first pitch was hit for a single.
The next batter tripled.
He walked the next batter on four straight pitches, and when he did throw a strike to the next hitter, it went for a single.
At that point, Hartman had had enough. He headed for the showers, dressed, and walked out of the stadium to a naval recruiting office, where he enlisted. The next day, he was in a military uniform, never to be heard from in professional baseball again.
Safe to say, ol’ Harry left baseball with an itty bitty confidence problem. And the tragedy of it all? Harry was good enough. But he threw away his confidence, and never tried again. [click to continue…]
…the season of singing has come, the cooing of doves is heard in our land.
Arise, come, my darling; my beautiful one, come with me (Song of Solomon 2:12)
Be like the dove, He said… [click to continue…]
One of Friday's Lovely Moments -Cohen's first haircut, and I got to BE the front-row seat.
Nobody has to convince you that life is busy and blazes by at the speed of, well, life. Expressions like, “Where did all the time go?” are the stuff of every-day conversation.
Sometimes that can feel painfully lonely as we emerge from the grindstone and wonder where everybody went.
Sometimes that can feel out of control as we are swept away by the rhythm and melody of somebody else’s music.
And yet…
And yet…
Even in the craziness, the busyness, and the where’d-it-all-go, life has a way of presenting what Roger Breland calls a Lovely Moment – those experiences where even if for a brief pause, life seems to come up for air and fill your heart.
Sometimes the Lovely Moment arrives in the form of a long-anticipated event, like your wedding day, graduation, or the birth of a child or grandchild.
Sometimes the Lovely Moment comes as a complete surprise, when suddenly you realize how full your heart is because of a special memory, a future conversation played out in your mind, the joyful news of a friend, or a reminder somehow that you’re being thought of.
The Lovely Moment can be an elusive thing, but only because we’re too busy, too wounded, too stressed, or too blinded to open our eyes and see them. The truth is, Lovely Moments are in abundant supply… [click to continue…]
