Corona Devotionals

What situation or person or emotion is  out of our control  and our comfort zone today...and w hat will we do about it?   What should  we do about it?    ~~~ Driving down a two-lane country road the other day, there was a car approaching me from the other direction.  It slowly crossed over the yellow dividing lines and approached me head-on for a few scary moments.  But in plenty of time and distance for safety, the car then faded back over into its proper lane, and I wondered what he had been avoiding. Then I saw a stone in the road that the other driver had cautiously swerved to miss...it was moving.  A small turtle was diligently marching across the road and that car had swerved to avoid him. The turtle’s head protruded out of the shell and was held high while its feet moved with apparent determination across the country road.  I was glad that the car in the turtle's lane had come into mine for a (few scary) moments....

I passed a  truck pulling a trailer boasting "French Fries" the other day, and in the line of traffic not far behind it, I then passed trailers announcing "Cotton Candy" and "Funnel Cakes".   If there had been one more trailer in the caravan advertising "Fried Veggies"... I would have done a u-turn to follow it! It's in my blood to love carnival and fair food.   DNA is real: for example, my brother has red hair because our dad and grandfather did.  My eyes are blue because my mom's were.  And I'm not sure exactly which branch of "science" the fair-food-gene falls into, but I love fair food because my parents and grandparents did before me.  Like the DNA of blond hair or brown eyes...if you grew up enjoying going to county fairs and eating fair food, then you are (most likely) going to have a soft spot (sweet spot?) for fair food today...and I do. Fried veggies (cauliflower, broccoli, onion rings, zucchini, and sometimes a ca...

Out of town for a couple days and games, my husband and I woke up early before the kids...and that was our plan.  He was going running at a park and I was going with him to read the Bible and have some time with Jesus.  But when we got in the car, the engine started, however the steering wheel would not turn and a bright red light on the dashboard  relating to the steering wheel   was blinking and blaring at us.  We weren't going anywhere: the steering wheel was locked.  We had rented this car less than 24 hours earlier and now it was not drivable.  With sleeping children in the hotel room and an afternoon soccer game breathing down our necks, it was tempting to panic.  But we prayed instead.   And then my husband called the (not yet open) car rental agency and left a polite but direct message And then we stayed in the non-drivable car and I read the  next  Chapter in my daily Bible reading. As I read the passages out loud to m...

My husband's new favorite drink is a cold brew black coffee with cold foam. Have you heard of cold foam? It's like spray whip cream but thicker and creamier.  And just better. When you add cold foam to the top of a cup of coffee, it slowly but surely does magnificent things.  It seeps in.  It infiltrates.  And eventually the foam dissipates and becomes one with the coffee.  You can buy a cold brew coffee with cold foam at a coffee shop, and we have.  But as with most things, I found a cheaper way to reproduce the idea, and we think it's just as great.  My husband makes his own cold brew coffee with cold foam most mornings, and it's one of his highlights of the day. The cup of coffee starts off totally black, but once the cold foam is sprayed atop, as the foam sits, (if you look closely), you can see it stream down into the cold brew coffee.  Slowly but surely the foam infiltrates the coffee over time.  And over more time it is no longer a ...

We are sent today...and God gives us his blessing. Where are we headed today? To work? School? Off to raise our family? Under piles of files and paperwork? On assignment? Hiking a trail? On bed rest? Deployment? Vacation? Wherever we are headed today and whatever is on our docket: God gives us His blessing and His peace. We are sent today: Bow and receive God's proverbial hand on our head and blessing over our efforts today. Now may the God of peace, who through the blood of the eternal covenant brought back from the dead our Lord Jesus, that great Shepherd of the sheep,  ( 21)  equip you with everything good for doing his will, and may he work in us what is pleasing to him, through Jesus Christ, to whom be glory for ever and ever. Amen.    ~Hebrews 13:20-21 We are sent today, and we go with God's blessing. We don't even know all that we will encounter today, but our Lord does, and He promises us that (if we let Him), He will...

The other day both of our boys went to an open interview for some jobs in our area.  Prior to their departure, I went over a few quick tips with them so that they might represent well: give a firm handshake, look them in the eye, communicate clearly/honestly/and genuinely, and...look good!  Dress for success: a tie and combed hair go a long way and first impressions make more of a difference than we might ever know.  These were my quick-tips for interviewing well.   The Bible does the same thing for us in  Hebrews Chapter 13 , but beyond mere preparation for an interview, these verses give us quick-tips to succeed in the faith.  Best practices for following God and living for him.  Are we ready for the Bible's life-pointers?  (1)Keep on loving each other as brothers and sisters.   ( 2)  Don’t forget to show hospitality to strangers, for some who have done this have entertained angels without realizing it!   ( 3)  Remember ...

Remember your leaders who taught you the word of God. Think of all the good that has come from their lives, and follow the example of their faith.  ~Hebrews 13:7 ~~~ What is our earliest memory of someone teaching us the word of God ?   Was it a summertime Vacation Bible School (VBS)?  Crafts, games, snacks and Bible skits? Was it a flannel board with cloth figures and us sitting cross-legged on a carpet on a Sunday morning in a classroom with tiny chairs? Was it through song or music?  A teacher or choir director, or our mom or a grandparent: singing songs of faith that taught us songs of faith. Or was it a teacher/a coach/a parent/a youth leader or pastor at our church (or at a friends church)? Who were the leaders who taught us the word of God ?   Let's  remember them today.  Let's  think of all the good that has come from their lives .  Let's think of the effect they had on us, and let's think of the effect that they had on...

Keep on loving one another as brothers and sisters.  ( 2)  Do not forget to show hospitality to strangers, for by so doing some people have shown hospitality to angels without knowing it.     ~Hebrews 13:1-2 I'm not sure if they were angels...but I am also not sure that they were not.  And that's why God says  do not forget to show hospitality to strangers ...because we never know. I read this verse first in the morning, before starting my day and without any idea of the people I would encounter in that day.  But God knew.  He always knows. Keep on loving one another as brothers and sisters.  ( 2)  Do not forget to show hospitality to strangers, for by so doing some people have shown hospitality to angels without knowing it.     ~Hebrews 13:1-2 Because of a few different events (on the same day), I encountered some people that I knew, and many that I did not.    My first " entertaining " came when ...