Corona Devotionals

Just like that. He was here. Breathing, coaching, running, making a difference to so many and in so many, for so many years and seasons. Until...just like that, he wasn't. Why? We ask through tears of hurt and pain. Why? We cry in shock and sorrow? But we know why, don't we? Although we spend most of life ignoring it, avoiding it, and even denying its reality, we know why. Because he was the same as you and me, and every human on earth since God created the first ones. Because..."just like that" will happen to all of us. There is a time for everything, and a season for every activity under the heavens: ( 2) a time to be born and a time to die…  ~Ecclesiastes 3:1-2 The bigger question to our "why" is also found in the answer to our "why's". Or should I say the A nswer. Jesus makes the difference. He makes the difference in our understanding of death and what comes after: “I am the resurrection and the life. Whoever believes in...

I knew I had a short window, but I wanted to make the time.   Elderberries are only in season for a couple short weeks, but I love their taste and the nostalgia of their flavor in pies and cobblers is adored throughout generations of my family.  Plus, it turns out that they are hip for their health benefits too.    I  knew  I had a short window, and I wanted to make the time  to shuck them. But the days, they are so full!  The schedule and responsibilities versus the hours awake seem to be in all-out war this time of year.  So many things to do.   The berries were ripe.  They hung there beckoning me to pick/bake/jam/freeze them. But there they hung.  And hung.  And then birds ate them and the sun baked them...and I didn't pick them.   Perhaps I could have gotten them picked, but something else would have had to give from obligations to my attitude.  However, in wisdom ,  I took a deep breat...

Feeling heavy? Going to bed with that weight on your shoulders and waking up to it also? Maybe it's grief: the loss of someone, or the death of a dream, or the dwindling of hope. Maybe it's fear: not of the unknown but of the known. Reality is not what you want it to be. Maybe it's being "stuck". You can't find the "old you" who rolled-with-the-punches and made the best of things. Instead you feel continually punched and you can't find anything to make the best of. Or maybe it's just a new day and the perfect time to tune in to God. Shouting in desperation or barely audible in spiritual-exhaustion: He hears our prayer. Psalm 86 A prayer of David. 1 Bend down, O Lord, and hear my prayer; answer me, for I need your help. 2 Protect me, for I am devoted to you.  Save me, for I serve you and trust you.  You are my God. 3 Be merciful to me, O Lord, for I am calling on you constantly. 4 Give me happiness, O Lord, for I give myself to you. 5 O L...

The descendants of Joseph came to Joshua and asked, “Why have you given us only one portion of land as our homeland when the Lord has blessed us with so many people?” (15) Joshua replied, “If there are so many of you, and if the hill country of Ephraim is not large enough for you, clear out land for yourselves in the forest where the Perizzites and Rephaites live.” (16) The descendants of Joseph responded, “It’s true that the hill country is not large enough for us. But all the Canaanites in the lowlands have iron chariots, both those in Beth-shan and its surrounding settlements and those in the valley of Jezreel. They are too strong for us.” (17) Then Joshua said to the tribes of Ephraim and Manasseh, the descendants of Joseph, “Since you are so large and strong, you will be given more than one portion. (18) The forests of the hill country will be yours as well. Clear as much of the land as you wish, and take possession of its farthest corners. And you will drive out the Canaanites fr...