Up the Sunbeam

"Now the crowd that was with him  when he called Lazarus from the tomb and raised him from the dead continued to spread the word." John 12:17 NIV1984 Two Sundays ago , I wrote of what was then an unfolding story , just three days old, that had thousands of people riveted to a "secret" group on facebook as we prayed for the life of Stephen Shaffer. What you didn't know then was that between Saturday night when I wrote that post and Sunday morning when I hit PUBLISH, Stephen had taken a turn for the worse. It was with trembling fingers that I posted what I had written the night before, trusting that God was going to continue to hold Stephen together, even when it looked like he was falling apart. Oh how we prayed, and many of you joined in and prayed too! Hour by hour during that next week, we watched and prayed! Last Sunday , I struggled to capture, in the craziest mix of metaphors you've ever seen, the incredible ups and downs we had witnessed as God wor...

-- I came very close to titling this post "Never Skip a Bible Verse," but I think I'll ask you to think of that as the subtitle instead. There are verses in the Bible that we are all tempted to skip entirely, or at the very least we skim over them, considering them to be the verses to move past to get to the good stuff. I think of certain long passages of Leviticus outlining laws that seem persnickety and far removed from our 21st Century life,  or long ago census records that list the names of the Twelve Tribes of Israel and the numbers of people in each one,  or genealogies filled with generations of names we can't pronounce (they used to be called "the begats"--anyone old enough to remember that?) What about this one? " James, a servant of God and of the Lord Jesus Christ,    To the twelve tribes scattered among the nations:    Greetings." James 1:1 NIV At first glance, this verse may seem merely a polite introduction, a salutation...

-- I can hear the telltale clanking. The monkey wrench has been thrown into the machinery again. The gears are grinding to a halt, and the flow of words has stopped. I keep anxiously watching like a weary traveler waiting at an empty baggage claim for bags that do not come. I wish I could see down the chute and open everything up to fix the problem. I wish it was as easy to focus my thoughts as it is to focus my camera. I flit and flutter, scanning my mind for an idea, just one good idea, to perch upon.  Where, oh where are the words hiding? Why won't they show themselves? What have I done to chase them away, and what can I do to bring them back? Are they alive and green somewhere under the frosty cold? What if I've already written everything I know? What if there are no more good ideas? What if nothing I say is original or creative or special? What if the keys have gone silent for the last time? Wistful wishes, wretched what if's, mixed up image...

-- I was beating a hasty retreat out of Costco--a place I avoid as much as possible, and twice as much this time of year! I wouldn't have even been there that day since Hero Husband had hero ically already been there a couple of hours earlier, delighting me with his chivalry in taking this chore off my hands.  He knows how I feel about the crush of too many people milling around like confused cattle, complete with mooing and the occasional stampede when samples are close by. However, the kids and I were out running a few errands which included filling up the gas tank, and Costco is my station of choice because of their nice price.  Since we were there, Drummer Boy asked if we could go in and get a couple of things for the breakfasts and lunches he likes, things I knew Hero Husband had not known we needed.  Sigh.  I did not want to go in, but knew it was probably the best time to do it, so in we went. I had hoped to just get in, find our two items, and get the...

-- The deep, inky blue of the shepherds’ sky was awash in waves rolling in on heaven's tide. Not waves made of water, nothing anyone could see, but something was coming, something profound was about to happen. As the shepherds kept uneasy watch, the round soft shapes of the sheep showed pale in the starlight as they munched their way contentedly across the grassy hills that rolled below. The shepherds knew nothing of the coming hosts, the angels who were riding the tide, riding to greet them, riding the billows of history to make an announcement that would change everything. No wonder then that the angel appointed to speak to them had to start where all angels start when they bring a message from God to the earth, "Fear not." "And the angel said unto them, Fear not: for, behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy, which shall be to all people."   Luke 2:10 KJV Standing astride the sky-waves, just like the One  he came to herald would on...