JOHN 14:9-11 Anyone who has seen me has seen the Father. How can you say, ‘Show us the Father’? 10 Don’t you believe that I am in the Father, and that the Father is in me? The words I say to you I do not speak on my own authority. Rather, it is the Father, living in me, who is doing his work. 11 Believe me when I say that I am in the Father and the Father is in me; …

JOHN 14:27 27 Peace I leave with you; my peace I give you. I do not give to you as the world gives. Do not let your hearts be troubled and do not be afraid. I had something else planned for this week, but I cannot shake Parkland from my heart and mind. And I do not believe God wishes me to. A friend of mine shared Saint Francis’s “Peace Prayer” and so I am passing it on …

ROMANS 1: 14-15 I am obligated both to the Greeks and non-Greeks, both the wise and the foolish. That is why I am so eager to preach the gospel also to you who are in Rome. The one thing being both a child and a teacher has taught me is how to be a lifelong learner. As a kid everything is new. It’s why you ask so many questions. Why does the moon look like …

GENESIS 8:22 “As long as the earth endures, seedtime and harvest, cold and heat, summer and winter, day and night will never cease.” I’ve been tired lately. The kind of tired that makes you feel like you’re moving under water. I feel like Dustin Hoffman in “The Graduate.” I’m at the bottom of the pool. Above me, people are living life and being productive, but man, the inertia’s a killer and I just can’t summon …

HEBREWS 4:12 12 For the word of God is alive and active. Sharper than any double-edged sword, it penetrates even to dividing soul and spirit, joints and marrow; it judges the thoughts and attitudes of the heart. There is a scene in the film, The Usual Suspects, which, so as not to spoil the whole thing, I will only describe as an epically clever con man film. In this scene, the main character is being interrogated by a detective …

1 PETER 5:10-11 10 And the God of all grace, who called you to his eternal glory in Christ, after you have suffered a little while, will himself restore you and make you strong, firm and steadfast. 11 To him be the power for ever and ever. Amen.   William Blake, the famous poet of “The Tyger” and “The Lamb” believed in something that looked a lot like a graduated scale of sin to sanctity. He wrote all about it in “The …

ROMANS 1:16 16 For I am not ashamed of the gospel, because it is the power of God that brings salvation to everyone who believes: first to the Jew, then to the Gentile.” If you were to ask me, “Are you ashamed of being a Christian?” I would probably narrow my eyes and say, “Why would you ask that?” I always want to know the angle. And when someone comes at you with that line of questioning, they often have …

REVELATION 2:17  17 Whoever has ears, let them hear what the Spirit says to the churches. To the one who is victorious, I will give some of the hidden manna. I will also give that person a white stone with a new name written on it, known only to the one who receives it. So the twins got into the bookcase on New Year’s day while my husband was thawing our frozen water pipes under the house and I was …

GENESIS 1:27-28 So God created mankind in his own image, in the image of God he created them; male and female he created them. 28 God blessed them and said to them, “Be fruitful and increase in number; fill the earth and subdue it. Rule over the fish in the sea and the birds in the sky and over every living creature that moves on the ground.” JUDGES 4:4-5 4 Now Deborah, a prophet, the wife of Lappidoth, was leading Israel at that time.5 She held court under the Palm …

MARK 6: 30-32 30 The apostles gathered around Jesus and reported to him all they had done and taught. 31 Then, because so many people were coming and going that they did not even have a chance to eat, he said to them, “Come with me by yourselves to a quiet place and get some rest.” 32 So they went away by themselves in a boat to a solitary place. MARK 1:35 “Very early in the morning, while it was still dark, Jesus …