Last night I watched the new movie Champions at our local theater. Woody Harrelson plays an assistant basketball coach who gets fired for scuffling physically with his boss on TV, gets a DUI, and then is court ordered to do community service by coaching a local team of players with intellectual difficulties. He deals his new situation better than I probably would have, jumping right in the middle of relationship building with his players and their families.

I didn't enjoy it because of the memories it called up. There is a scene where the hippies showed in church and some of the church members left. I think that had I been there, my church people in the churches I grew up in would have been the ones walking out. And I probably would have joined them. I still have an aversion to those who are... different. If I am being totally honest, I barely understand myself. And those recognizably different? Deep inside, they frighten me...

Anyone else here (constantly?) thinking about food? No? Well yesterday morning, God showed me food; a half eaten chimichanga, specifically. Goop (sauce) was oozing out, and there were unidentifiable chunks on the plate. As I watched, I saw myself taking the fork to carefully eat every last bite. "God, what does this mean?" My thoughts wandered to my time in the hospital with Covid when I was ravenous from the steroids. I felt like the Marvel character Venom, prowling around

Today has been interesting. I use a Cloud service called OneDrive. Today it showed me a bracelet that quoted Psalm 46:10-- "Be still, and know that I am God." God used that bracelet years ago with me, when I was begging Him to do something in a certain area. He didn't answer. Finally, in frustration, I opened Instagram to a post by www.mintandlily.com and I was staring at this same cuff bracelet. God was telling me to Stop Striving, and to Trust Him. And here we are again

Some people are into pain. I am NOT one of those people. I am thinking of the scene in Job 1 and 2 of the Heavenly Court, where God says to Satan, "Have you considered my servant Job?" I wonder, if Job could have been present at that moment, would he have been jumping up and down in the back, waving his hands, trying to get God's attention? "No No No No Noooooooooo! Please pick someone else?!?!" I surely would have. But notice his actual response?... to fall to the ground

What I think God was telling me was that He was going to provide for me. There would be More Than Enough. Yes, I was going to feel burned out. But he had ample stores, and would supply what I needed. He is more than enough. And I don't need to worry.

Things were In Motion, I was not in control, and I didn't like it one bit, No Sir! But sometimes God puts us in these situations. Where we are not ready. Where we are not in control. I was stressing to God last week about the future, emotionally hyperventilating about things. "But God, what about THIS??? AND what about THAT???" In response, God spoke to my heart and said simply, "You're just going to have to trust Me."

But what I am really wondering is, how did the other women treat her? David was already married to at least three women, and presumably had concubines as well. Six sons were already born to him in Hebron from six different women... So here is the new girl, and she's pregnant with their husband's baby. And now she's married to him too. Goody. So how did they react? Did they welcome her with love and compassion as a sister-wife? Or did they slut-shame her, leaving her alone to

Friends, we usually think of the desert as a place of pain. As a kind of punishment. A lonely place. But... that's not what the Desert is for. It's for intimacy. Hosea 2:14-15 (NIV) reads: "Therefore I am now going to allure her; I will lead her into the desert and speak tenderly to her. There I will give her back her vineyards, and will make the Valley of Achor [trouble] a door of Hope." Has God led you into the desert? Embrace it. It's a privilege, not a punishment...

Many times, Christians seem to think that we should have a pain-free life. Like perhaps suffering or pain must be God punishing us for our sin. And maybe if we were spiritual enough, maybe we wouldn't be hurting so much. But Scripture doesn't teach that. In Isaiah 53, the Message tells us about God's son, the Messiah Jesus, "Still, it's what GOD had in mind all along, to crush him with pain." Over and over again, Jesus told his followers that he was going to Jerusalem where

This morning I was turning some things over in my mind that God has been showing me-- things I didn't understand (and still don't.) I was asking God about timing, and he showed me a scene from The Voyage of the Dawn Treader (the C.S. Lewis book, not the terrible movie.) He showed me the lion Aslan and the girl Lucy having an intimate conversation off in the distance. "Please Aslan," asked Lucy, "What do you call soon?" "I call all times soon..."

A few days ago, I noticed that God had stopped talking to me about a long-term concern, and I was asking Him "Why was that?" In response, God showed me two workmen, stage hands, carrying a curtain across the stage, blocking my view... God was telling me that, for His purposes, I was not allowed to watch while the stage was being set for the next Act. My job was to sit my butt in the chair and wait. I also noticed that the curtain wasn't lowered from the ceiling, indicating th

Friends, God talks. And sometimes He provides warnings of trouble to come. Amos 3:7 tells us: "The fact is, the Sovereign GOD does nothing without first telling his plans to his servants the prophets." I believe that this is one of those times. Long ago, God gave pagan king Pharaoh a dream of impending famine so he would prepare, and in so preparing, save Joseph's family. And I am hearing the same thing from various people today, in unrelated ministries... that hard times and

I keep a journal. I write down what is going on, and I pour my heart out to God. I sometimes draw pictures of things God shows me. One day I was stressing over painful things of the past that I didn't understand, and God showed me my journal, with the pages flipping in the wind from an open window. As the pages flipped, I saw paragraphs missing. Sometimes whole pages were missing from the story of my life. God was telling me that I was missing some information. I didn't kno

He knew they were hungry and provision had already been made. They didn't need to catch the 153 large fish, but Jesus was trying to make a point. He was proving, yet again, that he was able to meet their needs in impossible circumstances. (They had fished all night and caught nothing.) Now that he had their attention, he had stuff to tell them. I think sometimes God creates moments of crisis in our lives to see if we will turn to Him...

I watched a good movie today. Avatar: the Way of Water. Maybe it's not actually a good movie, but it resonated with me. I love movies, and it think this is the first movie, ever, that touched my heart as a Father...

Years ago, I was part of a church where God was moving powerfully for a season. We were having church six nights a week, and would often go to 11 pm. The worship leader would come with two sets of songs, and then we would have to just wing it. By the end of the service, 1/3 of the congregation was being prayed for, 1/3 was praying, and 1/3 was passed out on the floor. God's presence was palpable. A sense of His Holiness was overwhelming...

God showed me a vision. I was in a cave system on a rocky shoreline. A massive winter storm was raging against the shore where I was at. Waves were surging in and out of the caves, and I had to use the flashes of lightning through gaps overhead to see enough to keep from getting soaked. It was frightening. But then I realized I was sheltered in the caves. Had I been on the surface, on the outside, I would have been exposed to not only surf, but to rain and cold and 50mph wind

When I was in second grade, I decided to run away from home. I packed my little backpack, and was sitting at the end of the driveway with my Labrador Retriever Bonnie. I was mentally going through my checklist of stuff to bring, when I made the horrifying realization that I'm had forgotten to pack dog food. Moreover, that big dog could eat! The whole backpack wasn't big enough to carry enough food for her. There was no way I could leave her behind, and I couldn't possibly br

Sometimes New Years Eve can be a lonely night, filled with self reflection, and perhaps feelings of loss. Of wondering where God is. Or if He even cares? Yet the Bible references even babies in the womb as being part of God's plan, and on His mind...