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May 31, 2021 | 2 Comments

How I almost died; or How I wanted to die; or How I prayed to Jesus to deliver me home (in whatever way He saw fit)

Disclaimer: This is not a devotional. There’s no moral to the story, unless you wish to find one here. It’s simply a cautionary tale about middle age and a long trail.

The Lake of the Clouds Loop trail begins at the end of a road leading out of Westcliffe, Colorado. My husband and I arrived to hike it—or at least (we thought) the first few miles of it—on May 29. It was our 28^th anniversary.

The full distance of the trail is about 12 miles. It reaches a series of three small lakes at about 11,500 feet. Ambitious, yes, but–

Believe me when I tell you that I did not expect to hike past the first 2 to 3 miles. There’d been snow recently, and I fully anticipated having to turn back early. This was the first of several poor judgments. I mean, really bad judgments. I underestimated my tenacity (or is that stubbornness?), and we ultimately traveled 11 miles of trail. It was awful. [Read more…]

September 29, 2020 | Leave a Comment

Frustration

(Adapted from a sermon preached September 6, 2020.)

Remember the movie Bruce Almighty, about the man whom God allows to be God just for a while? There’s a scene, early in the movie, in which Bruce is done, just done. He’s tired of his mediocre job, his mediocre apartment, his mediocre life, and he blames his mediocrity on God.

“God is a mean kid sitting on an anthill with a magnifying glass, and I’m the ant. He could fix my life in five minutes if He wanted to, but He’d rather burn off my feelers and watch me squirm.”

Bruce may have not been altogether wrong. Bear with me.

This is a meditation on frustration. [Read more…]

July 16, 2020 | 2 Comments

Practicing caution in an age of fear

When my son was very young, he developed a fascination with electrical outlets.

Yes, yes, we used the outlet covers, and, yes, yes, inevitably, he’d find the one recently used outlet where we’d forgotten to replace the cover.

It all stopped, though, the night he decided to see what would happen if he put tweezers in the bathroom outlet where I’d just been drying my hair. After a loud crack and a scream, we found him on the other side of the room in a heap, unharmed, but wiser. He never went near another outlet again with small metal objects.

By trial and error, cracks and screams, it could be said that we learn what to fear and what not to fear.

The Savior Jesus teaches again and again to fear nothing. In Luke 12 alone, he teaches on fear three times. “I tell you, my friends, do not fear those who kill the body, and after that can do nothing more” (12:4), and again, “Therefore, I tell you, do not worry about your life” (12:22), and again, “Do not be afraid, little flock, for it is your Father’s good pleasure to give you the kingdom” (v. 32).

But, my son needed to fear electrical outlets, didn’t he? Fear is good, isn’t it, if it keeps us safe?

No.

To fear something or someone is to give it power over us–at times, more power than God. Raw fear cripples us. It makes enemies of friends, and it rips neighbors apart. Raw fear makes us stupid. [Read more…]

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