• Saying Grace

    He was in the Upper Room with those whom He would love to the end.  Feet had been washed, an act of selfless love, an example of how His disciples should love one another. It is still the great commandment. The Passover meal had been prepared. They reclined at the table together, His betrayer beside Him,…

  • What Lazarus Knew

    After teaching first in the Temple and then at the Mount of Olives, some believe that perhaps Jesus spent Wednesday back in Bethany with His friends Mary, Martha, and Lazarus. Traditionally, we remember Mary’s anointing of Jesus on this day.  Jesus loved His friends in Bethany. He loved Mary, and Martha, and Lazarus. But today,…

  • No Turning Back

    There He was-  God Incarnate- in His Temple.  He was where the people were- this crowded place, where worship was meant to happen- teaching them words of eternal life, healing them, loving them. Knowing He was just  Three days away from Calvary His enemies- the religious leaders who wanted to kill him- tried desperately to trap…

  • Cleansed

    Long ago, in the days of Jeremiah, He had warned them. They were believing a deception. These gods His people were worshipping with their lewd, vulgar practices- they didn’t truly exist. These gods were created in man’s imagination, by man’s hands.  His people worshipped strange gods all week, then attended His Temple to pay their…

  • Triumphant

    Palm Sunday is the first day of Holy Week- the week that we pause and reflect on Jesus’ last days before Calvary, the tomb, and the Resurrection. On Palm Sunday, we remember Jesus riding into Jerusalem on a donkey, publicly proclaiming for the first time His identity as Messiah. We remember the people waving palm…

  • Raise the Flag

    I got a letter from a friend today. It was a real letter on real stationery. Written in cursive on both sides of the paper. Written by her own hand, from her own heart. Sent through the mail. She’s a busy woman. Single mom with two kids. A stressful, full-time job. An aging parent that…

  • I Had A Friend

    A few days ago, my friend closed his weary eyes in a hospice bed in Georgia, and opened them in Glory. I miss him already.   It was six years to the day that I had met him at work. He was assigned the thankless task of showing me how to be a contract specialist for the…

  • Something to Celebrate

    In 1973, Tuesday, January 16th was my 6th birthday.  It was also the day that National Nothing Day was added to Chase’s Calendar of Events. According to Wikipedia, its purpose was to provide Americans with one national holiday when they can just sit without celebrating, observing, or honoring anything.  Humorist Harold Coffin sponsored this non-holiday, and even is…

  • Stay Safe

    Not long after the Coronavirus pandemic started we began seeing almost an immediate, global new email vocabulary.  I never saw a memo on it; maybe it was subliminally communicated somehow.  It was just something that almost everyone started including as their complimentary email close- “Stay Safe.” Some people might change it up by adding a “Stay Healthy”…

  • The Longest Night

    It feels like night.  Not the part of night where candles are lit in festivity or celebration. Where friends and family are enjoying some gathering. It feels like the part where candles are lit in a desperate and breathless attempt to drive the pitch-black darkness away into the deeper shadows.  The part where you are all alone…