Blog
#CoronaBonus
Back on March 14, when “social distancing” and “stay-at-home orders” were relatively new terms for us, my brother posted a picture of one of his favorite places—the lake where we spend the summer camping together. The picture showed the campground beach, blue skies, and calm waters—a welcomed respite from the chaos that was starting to overtake our world. He captioned the picture #coronabonus as a play on the word “coronavirus,” a term that has inundated our TV screens and newsfeeds in the weeks that have followed.
Seeing God Best
Meet Jacob. Jacob is the younger son of Isaac. He is the grandson of Abraham. And although he is known as one of the Old Testament patriarchs of faith, Jacob spent much of his life grasping for God’s blessing: he deceived and schemed for it, he worked for it, he dreamed for it, he wrestled for it. And then in Genesis 35, Jacob finally rests in the blessing of God. In verse 3 he says to his family – “Let us arise and go up to Bethel, so that I may make an altar to the God who answers me in the day of my distress and has been with me wherever I have gone.”
The Holiness Of Home
Home is one of my favorite places. It’s my space with my people, a sanctuary of sorts. In these days of shelter-in-place I am so grateful to have this shelter in place, a space to call Home. Home has recently taken on a new meaning: it’s not just where you go at the end of the day, not just where you lay your head at night. Home is now the classroom. Home is now the workplace. Home is now the coffee-shop. Home in now the church sanctuary.
ThroughTheValley
Lord, high and holy, meek and lowly, You have brought me into the valley of vision, Where I live in the depths but see you in the heights; Hemmed in by mountains of sin and disease, I behold your glory.
Let me learn by paradox that the way down is the way up, that to be low is to be high, that the broken heart is the healed heart, that the contrite spirit is the rejoicing spirit, that the repenting soul is the victorious soul, that to have nothing is possess all, that to bear the cross is to wear the crown, that to give is to receive, that the valley is the place of vision.