But I did get some encouragement to try a couple of things again, and some new things, too. I’ll make it through this year because the growing season for it is over, and I will be spraying every little piece that pops up its head before trying something new next spring.But that’s not the only good news…You see, I am a better preacher than gardner, and God spoke to me a lot while I was working…
Read MoreAs followers of Jesus, we can up our own joy level when we do like Jesus—when we go about doing good, focusing on the needs and spirits of others. That’s a great goal for you and me today. I will be a carrier of calm, peace, hope, possibilities, joy, and Jesus everywhere I go. I will look for people who need a lift and provide it. I will get over my moods, and put aside my self-centered concerns, and my negative outlook. I will be the person who leaves the people in my wake saying, “Wow! Thank God I ran into her/him today!” I will intentionally open my heart for God to use me to make life a little more fulfilling and joyful today.
Read MorePastor Brenda is easily one of the wisest and most experienced people we know, so we know everyone has questions they'd love to ask! Once a month, we will take one of your questions and have Pastor Brenda answer it!
Am I Really Supposed To Forgive and Forget?
On a cold February morning I had traveled to spend a few hours with Dad. By the end of the first week of September, he would be in heaven. Dad was in a reflective mood that morning about deeply spiritual moments of his past. He shared with me this memory I had never heard before.
Read MoreIt is with deep sorrow that we had to say goodbye to our beloved friend, Pastor Charles Young. He walked healthy and whole into the arms of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. Charlie was well loved and will be dearly missed by all who knew him. We are all grieving through this time of great loss, but we rejoice knowing that he is finally at home where he belongs and is singing over us with the angels.
Read MoreIt's happened again. Our community is rocking with the pain of another young death from suicide. For whatever reason, he couldn't push past the despair he felt in that moment to get to the place where he felt hope. All of us are hurting.
Words fail.
Read MoreWe have been a denominational church for many years. It is a good denomination, and we stand with them in all our foundational beliefs. However, over the last few years, the denominational priorities have made it increasingly difficult and financially unfeasible to fulfill our mission and responsibility to the local area and needs to which God has called us.
Read MoreHave you acknowledged to yourself that, despite your best efforts and optimistic overlook, there are seasons that are astonishingly hard? Despite the happy face we deliberately choose to encourage other people, or even the perhaps less well-intentioned social media posts presenting the highlight reels of our lives, there are days, episodes, even entire seasons when we live anywhere but Easy Street.
This week my daughterRachel Carpenter and I were texting about the winter of the soul we both had experienced in the last year, made bleaker by the significant struggles and hurts of those we care about so deeply. Her texts were so...well, I can't describe them. But they were mightily on point, and I asked her if she would type them up and let me share. She agreed. Here they are. I'm going to reflect a moment at the end. Please know these come from a very difficult head and heart space, but not a depressed one.
This Is Us is an American televisionseries created by Dan Fogleman that premiered on NBC on September 20, 2016. It has gained a huge fan base, including me. The cast of characters is fascinating and multi-hued. They seem like people I either know or interact with every day, people I see in my office. The series follows siblings Kate, Kevin and Randall who share the same birthday, but not the same parents or race, as Randall was adopted after their natural sibling was stillborn. Their lives intertwine through current events, flashbacks, and not a few tears.
Read MoreJust finished reading the book of Job again. Fascinating dialogue between a man badly misunderstood by his self-righteous friends, and an intimate dialogue with God who knew him best. It's interesting how common culture misuses this story, though. Many people compare themselves with Job when they are suffering...but few of us could even aspire to that, myself included. NONE of Job's trials were brought on himself because of his own poor choices. NONE of his suffering was because he had sinned. In fact, according to Job 1, God himself said about Job, "There is no one on earth like him; he is blameless and upright, a man who fears God and shuns evil.”(v.8) HIS suffering was initiated because Satan believed the only reason Job was obedient and faithful was because he was enjoying God's favor and protection.
Read MoreThis materially cheap, otherwise priceless, necklace was given to me by the Sisters of Mercy in Kolkata, India, after my niece Sara Potter and I, had spent a day serving with Mother Teresa's humble crew. They serve the last, the lowest, and the least--the most forgotten of God's creation. I have found myself wearing it most days since early November. We weren't permitted to take pictures, or voice opinions. Everyone who came there to serve had to attend the excruciatingly early prayer service (didn't have to pray, but did have to respectfully attend), for they wanted no serving that did not begin in prayer. After that, everyone had to do behind the scenes, non-feel good, no glory jobs for an undetermined period. Sara and I were assigned to clean a very large space/meeting room with cobbled floors and thousands of crevices in this old building that served them--a building that would have been condemned in the US. I had to mop floors with a handmade mop--rag on a stick. It was difficult and long. When I was finished, the tiny little woman in the white and blue habit didn't even inspect it. She just motioned for me to do it again.
Read MoreI remember the first time I was aware that not everyone respected our US Presidents. I was a very young elementary student, and John F. Kennedy had been elected president. Our class at school was sharply divided or whether or not he was an answer to prayer or a demon straight from hell. We were too young to even have an opinion of our own. Everyone was spouting information, mostly misinformation, based on what they had heard. When I reported a bit of what I had heard, my Dad sharply reprimanded me for repeating ugly things. He reminded me that this man was now our president, and if I had Jesus in my heart, my job was to honor, respect, and pray for him.
