Category Archives: Spiritual Devotions

My first thought today while reading the chapter was 1 Corinthians 9:24-27 “Do you not know that in a race all the runners run, but only one receives the prize? So run that you may obtain it. Every athlete exercises self-control in all things. They do it to receive a perishable wreath, but we anContinue reading “Renovation of the Heart in Daily Practice: Chapter 2”

For the next 61 week days, some from our church will be going through the above titled book. The journey of transformation from self-absorbed sinner to living my life the way Jesus would is complex to say the least. It’s an invitation to reconciliation between two parties although in this case, it’s between one partyContinue reading “Renovation of the Heart in Daily Practice: Chapter 1”

God invites us to mind blowing choices. The most natural thing in life is to defend yourself. One of A.W. Tozer’s 5 Vows is “I vow to never defend myself.” From Psalms 33:16-22… “ The king is not saved by his great army;a warrior is not delivered by his great strength. The war horse isContinue reading “The Best Defense … No Defense”

It’s the age old problem, two people witness the same set of circumstances and come up with stories that don’t sound like the true story. The classic sit-com scenario where two characters whitewash their story because obviously they are the victims in this story. They tell the sanitized version to make them look like aContinue reading “What Do You See?”

Incomplete title, sorry, I got distrac… Our church kitchen has this bright shiny toaster. You pick it up and you know that at some point it was a quality kitchen apparatus. It’s very shiny, very sturdy, and doesn’t work at all. It’s got some cool technology. There is no plunger to get it started. InContinue reading “Shiny thin….”

” Blessed is the one whose sins are forgiven, whose sins are covered. Blessed is the one whose sin the Lord does not count against them and in whose spirit their is no deceit. When I kept silent my bones wasted away through my groaning all day long. for day and night your hand wasContinue reading “Sapped”

“If you’re right you don’t need a defense; if you’re wrong, you don’t have one.” The Prophets were forced to understand this. Jeremiah tried to make things clear. Jeremiah 17: 1-18 if you’d like to read it. Reading it with ears that are open would accomplish much. Read it with a hard heart or theContinue reading “Simple Thoughts”

The purpose of art is to elicit some sort of response. That response has a wide range anywhere from a peaceful serene scene in nature, angst over an issue, wonder, movement, joy, sadness, any number of emotions get stirred through art. The best art is able to do that for us in some way. IContinue reading “Running with the…”

Bonsai has been my hobby for well over 20 years at this point. Taking trees and making them into works of art, living art. Art that changes from year to year and has a real chance at radical transformation over time. In these ideal moments you begin to string together beautiful things on a repeatedContinue reading “Kicking the Can Down the Road”

Every year it’s the same story for me, I can hardly help myself. An ever changing landscape requires new plants, new plants require this life giving collection of elements… H2O (water). But this is the year I bit off more than I could chew combined with nature’s lack of cooperation. I was beginning to getContinue reading “H2O(H My)”