Whispers of Truth

I’ve thought often lately about the feathers that pad our nests.  Early one morning while sitting on a bench waiting for a meeting at school one day, I looked up and noticed that birds had made their nests in the rafters of the porch right in the midst of the long spikes that are intended to discourage that very thing from happening. A bird’s God-given instinct to seek out a safe place, build a nest of the materials available, and raise baby birds had managed to overcome the seemingly impossible obstacle in its way. As I sat pondering the stubborn ingenuity of God’s creation to do what it was intended to do regardless of the obstacles, it hit me that sometimes we humans do the same thing, but much to our detriment. In seeking out desirable situations, what appeals to us is often not what is best for us. The best place for those birds would’ve been in a sheltered place away from people and the deadly looking spikes placed as a deterrent to nesting there. Likewise, the best pl

I’ve been studying Psalm 18 for several weeks now. While it only takes a moment or two to read through the Psalm, the God David writes about is extraordinarily complex, and I want to know more. David is described in I Samuel 13:14 as someone the  " Lord  has sought out for Himself, a man after His own heart” and the one the Lord  appointed to rule over His people in place of Saul, whom the people wanted as their king instead of the God of the universe. From my perspective, wanting a man to replace a creator God is incomprehensible, but I forget how easily I sway toward appearance rather than substance, too. Their desire or pull to be like the world they live in is no different from mine. David begins his Psalm with his love for the Lord and gratitude for his salvation from his enemies by God’s strength. His relationship with God is personal, close, and strong, developed and strengthened through the very circumstances that ensued when God chose him to become king over His

Truth is difficult when it doesn’t match fabricated reality.   Jesus defines Himself as not only THE way, but also THE truth (John 14:6) before telling His disciples, “If you love Me, you will keep My commandments” (John 14:15). America has forgotten what truth is, and as a result, the people of America do not keep God’s commandments. The commentary in the wake of the mass shooting in an Orlando nightclub reveals this. What Omar Mateen did was indisputably wrong—evil, in fact, yet some of the reactions towards what he did are revealing. As I watched news shows Monday morning, I saw openly gay men and women praising God that they got out of the gay nightclub just in time to avoid the brutal massacre. Did you catch that? Those who enthusiastically oppose God’s design for men and women and who flaunt their sins in despicable ways were praising the One they do not know or understand.   These same people seem to have every intention of resuming their sinful lifestyles and are delud

One of the things I loved the most about the first home we purchased was the covered carport. Let’s just say I got rather spoiled growing up and had missed having one during the years of college and our early marriage. Shelter is a good thing. I enjoyed the brief time we lived there, but now I miss having a carport to shelter me from the elements.   Speaking of living, Psalms is where I've been for a few months now, and this morning as I pondered back over some of the ones that spoke to me most, I realized that several of them involve shelter. In Psalm 5, David prays for God’s protection from the wicked that seek to harm him. He seeks God early in the morning (vs. 3) and says, “I will order my prayer to Thee and eagerly watch” (NASB). David earnestly prays to God and eagerly waits with expectation for Him to accomplish His work according to His nature. David knows His God, and he trusts Him with all of his problems and needs—he seeks shelter from the only

Sometimes I feel like a flower in the middle of a mud puddle. Whether reality  matches my feelings or not is another story. These are the times I feel like the impossible swampiness of life is about to choke me to death, and the little beauty that I might be showing is about to sink into the abyss of my circumstances? Ah . . . maybe you can relate? Yesterday, I went fishing with my husband. I fished for a little while, but then I got out my camera and began playing with the settings and the lenses. My husband noticed that when I had one lens on, the pictures seemed  blurry—maybe because I am learning to use it or just plain need my glasses on, but partly because of the instability of the situation. I was holding a telephoto lens on a rocking boat with what seemed like gale-force winds at times. Greg suggested that when I changed lenses, the picture changed and became more focused. Life is rather like that—sometimes we are amateurishly pretending we know what we are doing or

  I keep running into the word “reasonable” paired with different things, one of which is the idea of expectations.   Since I taught Dickens’ Great Expectations for so long, maybe the pairing of reasonable with expectations makes me take notice—especially when I consider this generation I teach, many who think any and every thing they are asked to do that requires effort is un reasonable—and heaven forbid anyone have “great” expectations of them.   Enough ranting . . . so, if the average person today questions reasonable, what are we as Christians supposed to do with Paul’s exhortation found in Romans 12:1? Here Paul urges his Christian brothers and sisters to intentionally present themselves as living sacrifices:             I appeal to you therefore, brethren, and beg of you in view of [all] the mercies of God, to make a decisive dedication of your bodies [presenting all your members and faculties] as a living sacrifice, holy (devoted, consecrated) and well pleasing to God, whi

Sometimes God's grace overwhelms me enough that there just aren't words to express my gratitude.

One thing that generally comes into question when reading Shakespeare or Romans (both of which I've been doing recently) is whether or not we as humans really have choices. The other side of that coin is often presented as the idea that we have no free will of our own at all—that fate entirely dictates our lives. Shakespeare had a familiarity with the Bible that reveals itself in many aspects of his plays but probably never as strongly as this resounding question his characters struggle with and his readers are left to answer for themselves. So, as Christians, what really is the answer? Do we serve a benevolent God who gives us free will and aids us, or do we serve a God who places only the path before us that He’s already chosen? Notice, I didn’t say dictator for the second option because God is not a dictator, regardless of whether we believe we have free will or not! Does He work in the lives of His children establishing boundaries evil cannot cross?   Certainly! Is

I Samuel 16:7  "The LORD told Samuel, "Don't look at his appearance or his height, for I've rejected him. Truly, God does not see what man sees, for man looks at the outward appearance, but the LORD sees the heart ."   Recently, I was pondering Facebook, and really, there seem to be mostly two types of posts—the supremely happy ones (the everything’s perfect here posts) and the raving mad rampages (the if I don’t say this I’ll explode posts). Don’t get me wrong; I do enjoy seeing people’s happy moments and sharing in the milestone moments and updates from my friends, but as a still relatively new arrival to Facebook, I feel like our generation is being somewhat misled.   Think for one minute about the posts that can create the “we’re perfect” appearance, whether or not that’s even the intention. Honestly—have you ever known a “perfect” family? Think about it--is yours even close? The focus on the appearance of what some people have that others may

Yesterday, my husband gave me yet another lavish gift in anticipation of celebrating 25 years of marriage in late January. In doing so, he caught me by surprise--I definitely wasn't expecting a party, much less one 27 days early. He diligently researched the camera I'd mentioned in passing a week or so before Christmas, found a good deal, sought the advice of a friend who is a photographer, and purchased the ultimate package deal in the camera I wanted. In addition, he orchestrated the party and tried to include as many close friends as he could under the guise of watching the Alabama football game at another friend's house without raising any suspicions. He enlisted my children, and they kept the secret, helped with the gift, and then showed up a the party, too. I was scratching my head trying to figure out why they were there, and then looked down to find a cake that read "Happy Anniversary." I looked around the room trying to remember if I had forgotten someone