“Wisdom is the principal thing, therefore get wisdom and with all thy getting, get understanding.” “The light shineth in darkness, and the darkness comprehendeth it not.” I immediately recognized the quotes engraved on the walls of the Library of Congress — one from the Old Testament, the other one referring to Christ in the New Testament. These verses are well known to me. I stood in the Reading Room, astounded by the beauty and majesty of the architecture, while my heart raced with the Continue Reading
New Year Reflections from “The Bishop’s Wife” {Recharge Wednesday LINKUP}
Are you doing more and enjoying it less? Growing up, I often heard, “Idle hands are the devil’s workshop.” It took me a while to realize the devil also uses busyness to steal, kill, and destroy. The 1947 Christmas movie The Bishop’s Wife challenges the idea that more work, higher status, and impressive achievements mean a better life. After being promoted to bishop, a clergyman, played by David Niven, loses his joy and sacrifices almost everything else in the pursuit of success. In trying Continue Reading
View from a Mountaintop {Recharge Wednesday LINKUP}
What is it about mountains? Moses met with God there. The Samaritans and Jews argued over which one people should worship on. People have called them holy. Jesus went up them to pray. We marvel at photos of them, take vacations to climb them, and even use them in reference to the best points of our lives. Called “mountaintop experiences,” we see ascending to the highest heights we can reach as arriving at the pinnacles of life. It’s there we feel close to the Lord and immensely Continue Reading
Holy Night for a Holy Knight {Recharge Wednesday LINKUP}
The first Christmas was a silent and holy night. I’m familiar with silent nights. Because they track me down and schedule dates on my calendar. You see, I lose my voice about once a year, unable to squeak out a single word. Laryngitis sets up residence in my vocal cords. But it’s never a good time. Five years ago, silence struck with a job interview the next day. And it happened once with three speaking events coming up, the first in only three short days. Still, I was rendered Continue Reading
A Christmas Dare {Recharge Wednesday LINKUP}
"For this reason also God highly exalted Him, and bestowed on Him the name which is above every name, 10 so that at the name of Jesus every knee will bow, of those who are in heaven and on earth and under the earth, 11 and that every tongue will confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father." Philippians 2:9-11 I love a good story. It’s true – I can be so enthralled by a good book or movie that, as my family says, ‘a bomb could go off beside me and it wouldn’t faze Continue Reading
How a White Christmas Showed Me God’s Love {Recharge Wednesday LINKUP}
The first Christmas I spent away from my family was also my first Christmas walking with the Lord. I was living in Needham, Massachusetts. Having grown up in the deep south, my assignment to Boston out of college couldn’t have been more exotic if it’d been Mars. I arrived in early October. The beauty of the colored leaves intoxicated me. I loved the quaint town with its mixture of Victorian houses and small clapboard homes. The locals’ accents fascinated me. One student, named Barbara Continue Reading
