Corona Devotionals

We're here .   Where? The week of Easter.  The momentous events that changed the world and our eternity, and our hearts  if we will let them...they occurred this week.   The prayers by Jesus to have " this cup be taken from Him"--that happened this week.   Then Jesus went with his disciples to a place called Gethsemane, and he said to them, “Sit here while I go over there and pray.” ( 37) He took Peter and the two sons of Zebedee along with him, and he began to be sorrowful and troubled.  ( 38)  Then he said to them,  “My soul is overwhelmed with sorrow to the point of death. Stay here and keep watch with me.”  (39)  Going a little farther, he fell with his face to the ground and prayed,   “My Father, if it is possible, may this cup be taken from me. Yet not as I will, but as you will.”  ~Matthew 26:36-39 The betrayal of Jesus by Judas in the Garden of Gethsemane--that happened this week. ...

God’s Word to us rings true for us on the easy, blessed, full days.   And God’s Word rings true for us on the harried, heavy, empty days.   Which is it for us today?   And...either way: drape Psalm 62 over us like a shawl over our shoulders and a shield over our heart.  God gives us His Word today.   Psalm 62 (1) Truly my soul finds rest   in God;  my salvation comes from him.  ( 2)  Truly he is my rock and my salvation;  he is my fortress, I will never be shaken...  ( 5)  Yes, my soul, find rest in God;  my hope comes from him.  ( 6)  Truly he is my rock and my salvation;  he is my fortress, I will not be shaken.  ( 7)  My salvation and my honor depend on God;  he is my mighty rock, my refuge.  ( 8)  Trust in him at all times, you people;  pour out your hearts to him,  for God is our refuge.   ~Psalm 62:1-2, 5-8   Truly my soul finds res...

In the midst of miracles (just verses after feeding the thousands with fish and bread),  and in the heyday of holy works, like healing the sick and handicapped, and in the throes of His  thriving ministry and popularity, Jesus paused to shock the disciples and to tell them of all of it being over. …of Him being “over” and killed. From that time on Jesus began to explain to his disciples that he must go to Jerusalem and suffer many things at the hands of the elders, the chief priests and the teachers of the law, and that he must be killed and on the third day be raised to life.    ~Matthew 16:21 While Jesus was busy being famous-for-healing and sought-after-for-saving, He abruptly broke the news to His disciples that this spiritual-season would be cut short.   Life was good , but soon He would be called to a higher good. The disciples heard Him , but they didn’t get Him.   Peter actually argued with Jesus about it: not b...

In the backyard of my childhood home where I grew up is a deep ravine.  I could not know all of the wildlife that lives within the trees, ground, waters, and expanse of that backyard gully and creek, but over the years, (and explorations), we have seen deer, squirrels, raccoons and even foxes.  And once-in-a-while a coyote's howl can be heard.  On a recent hike down into the ravine, my niece and nephew found an old football in the woods, and they brought it up into the yard to play.  And play they did.  Their new-found toy found a home and many passes that afternoon. They had a new toy. Except... it wasn't theirs. Early the next morning, a coyote came trotting up out of the ravine, and he seemed to know exactly where he was headed... to the football that lay in the yard .  His football, apparently. The coyote approached the football, picked it up in his mouth, turned-tail, and proceeded to trot back over the hill and into the ravine.  My sister let o...

How can we appropriately explain Easter to someone... to ourselves ?  What do Good Friday and Resurrection Sunday  really  mean for us?  They mean  no more gloom for those who were in distress . And we've all been in distress.   The overarching "human dilemma"- distress  affects us all.  This world is not our home and nothing is quite (all the way) "right" here.  Even our best days have their cracks and flaws, and we are never  completely  at peace and  at rest  here on earth.  There is always some whisper of  distress  in our mind or heart, because even on the sunniest and smoothest times and people contain  distress . And what about personal- distress ?  Challenge/trial/sickness/injury/grief/doubt/loneliness/sin:  all of it  brings  distress  upon us. How about  sin- distress?   Heaven : we can't  get  there from here. Heaven is holy and ...

Would you believe that I have had three spills today?  Yep-- three different times I spilled  three different things, and really--can the pouring out of anything  be good? The first spill was while I was lifting a pickle jar out of the fridge, except that the lid was not tightened on the jar, and-- in a blink , pickle juice (and pickles!) covered the bottom shelf of my refrigerator and was running down the outside of the fridge door. The sticky green juice spilled out everywhere.   My second spill spawned from the first.   Part of my pickle-juice-cleanup-process involved spritzing my homemade simple (cleaning) solution of vinegar and water, but as I spritzed, the liquid ran low, and so I unscrewed the lid and poured in some more vinegar and filled the rest of the bottle with water, and then the phone rang, and life went in a different direction for a time.   But somehow my elbow found the uncapped spritz bottle, and now vinegar and water solu...