Joni and Ken – Book Review

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Looking for an inspirational book to read?I heard the story of Joni Eareckson Tada years ago. I have watched her ministry to provide wheelchairs throughout the world. I smiled when I heard she found love and married Ken. What a courageous woman she is. I admire her willingness to share her experiences and its lessons with us.Joni and Ken - an Untold Love Story is their latest book just released by Zondervan.Yes it is a love story but not exactly a “happily ever after” one. Joni and Ken’s 30 years of marriage has been full of challenges for both of them, but a path that has made them stronger. But like most of life, it is the day-to-day routines and problems that wears us down.“In reality, living with quadriplegia was never normal and even the most compelling of international escapades began to fade after a while For Ken what didn’t fade was the daily-nightly-daily-nightly drudgery of Joni’s disability routines.”Ken and Joni are honest and open about their ups and downs of their … [Read more...]

Easily Forgotten Companion

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Ever hear of Gerhard Tersteegen?  Me neither. I read a quote from him the other day that struck me and made me curious abut him. Who was he? Here is the quote: “God is essentially present with us in a manner that is incomprehensive to us.   He fills heaven an earth; in him we live, move and have our being.   He is also near our most secret thoughts, inclinations, desires and intentions.” Edward Hays in his “Book of Wonders”  pondered this quote and gives God the name, “My Easily Forgotten Companion.”  Now that is something to think about. That isn’t what I call God, but in reality how I treat Him. I conveniently forget God. I ignore His urges and commandments. I turn my attention away from His Presence that never leaves my side. Tersteegen later wrote: “You must withdraw into yourself a little and keep quiet before the face of God, then look gently and perfectly frankly at God who is so near to us, to let Him see … [Read more...]

The Lord is my Song – Lectio Divina

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The Lord is my strength and my songand has become my salvation.Psalm 118: 14My SongLord, I am weak without You.You are my strengthLord, I am lost without You.You are my salvation.But Lord, I never thought before that You are my song.But yes, You are the maestro and my conductor of all I speak and do.You create simple scales, detailed orchestration and lovely tunes that accompany my every moment.Your melody adds harmony to my life.Your voice is the swelling crescendo of all the open thresholds You direct my paths through.Your melody vibrates in my every cell.You are music, Lord.You exist in every silly chantey to the quarter rest in grand symphonies.You are the hush in a lullaby.You fuel the love in a serenade.You are the energetic beat of the bass drum in a march.You are song, Lord.You are the trumpets announcing the birth of new life.You are the hymns comforting the broken hearted.You are the chords proclaiming holy matrimony.I want to sing harmony with You, LordMay my path of life … [Read more...]

Regrets

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Regrets?  Do you have regrets? A friend of mine a few years back worked in admissions in a nursing home. One day he admitted a frail, elderly lady in a wheelchair. The lady looked him right in the eye and said to him, “Don’t wake up one day and be like me. Too old now to do what I really wanted to do. Time moves so quickly. Do what you deeply want now.” Her words struck him and he knew right away what to do. Strange as it may sound he wanted to change his first name legally. After that momentous conversation with this lady, he made the appointment with his lawyer to begin the process. He did change his name and never regretted taking this action. “The Top Five Regrets of the Dying” published last year by AARPcaught my eye recently. What were those regrets? 1.  I wish I'd had the courage to live a life true to myself, not the life others expected of me. This was the number one regret of all. At the end of life, people reflect about dreams they wished they had tried to … [Read more...]

Where Were You Ten Years Ago?

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  Where were you ten years ago? 2003. I took out my journal from that year this morning and travelled back in time. Work drove me crazy that year. I know the financial burdens, the personnel issues and the ongoing less than happy job satisfaction I identified that year, steered me to my eventual early retirement from that position in 2006. We remodeled the kitchen. If you ever tore up your house for a major renovation, you know exactly how I felt ten years ago. My brother-in-law died. My kids all experienced tensions, decisions and restlessness. And I answered God’s call to step out of my comfort zone and into new adventures. The first holy invitation opened with the beginning of my journey to become a spiritual director that year. I completed that wonderful, still evolving process in 2006. My journal records another significant call that year: November 20, 2003. I had been praying for guidance in the study to be an associate in ministry or what is … [Read more...]

Peace – Lectio Divina

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When it was evening on that day, the first day of the week, and the doors of the house where the disciples had met were locked for fear of the Jews, Jesus came and stood among them and said, "Peace be with you."Jesus said to them again, "Peace be with you. As the Father has sent me, so I send you." When he had said this, he breathed on them and said to them, "Receive the Holy Spirit.A week later his disciples were again in the house, and Thomas was with them. Although the doors were shut, Jesus came and stood among them and said, "Peace be with you."John 20:19, 21-22, 26Peace be with you.What a powerful greeting, Lord.That was the first word I heard You said when You appear before us, Your disciples. We have been hiding behind locked doors so afraid of the others, the rumors, the unknown. Your first gift to us?  “Peace.”Fear vanished. Rejoice! My heart skips with delight. You are alive!We celebrate Your presence, once again You offer Your sacred gift,“Peace.”What more could we ever ask … [Read more...]