Growing up as the youngest of three children, my permanent place for travel was in the middle seat. On long trips as the arguing escalated with “she touched me and she’s in my space”, my parents would allow me to climb over the seat and sit in the middle of them. I know some younger readers are in shock but this was allowed when I was a child. Yes, I was still stuck in the middle, but at least they let me touch them and even lean on their shoulder. In the front middle seat, I was allowed to lay my head on my mom’s lap and stretch my legs into Daddy’s space. Now that is real love! As a child I didn’t like being stuck in the middle, but now I am finding it to be a place of strength and comfort

“May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, so that by the power of the Holy Spirit you may abound in hope.” Romans 15:13 I’m a little embarrassed to admit that I still have some lingering Christmas decorations scattered around. I felt a sigh of relief when a friend told me she still has her Christmas tree up. I intentionally left the Joy candles on the shelf because they daily remind me of the focus of this New Year. “The JOY of the Lord is my strength.” That one plastic container in the garage catches my attention every single day. The sparkling bright red color demands attention every time that I pass it. This morning it dawned on me that it’s not just the color th

Let us fix our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy set before him endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God. – Hebrews 12:2 It seems that every year older I get, I am losing more and more things. Some of them are very important and I spend much time looking for them. Others just don’t really matter, and I let them reappear on their own. It happened just last month while wrapping presents. I kept losing the tape. I had just used it and was certain it had to be somewhere on the bed. After searching for a few minutes, I gave up and found another roll in the kitchen junk drawer. But it was a different story when I

As I prayed into the New Year, I wondered what my word for the year would be. I knew that I would find it in the Word, so I listened to the Spirit as I read. I landed in Philippians and felt stuck there as if my feet had stepped into molasses. In a good way, I was held there long enough to know that there were many treasures for this coming year within this precious encouraging letter that Paul had written to the beloved church at Philippi. It is from those treasures I will blog over the next few weeks. Every page that I read was filled with joy, joy, and more joy. I knew the word He was giving. But there was a surprise! I was about to write the word JOY as beautifully as I could on the inde

Oh, the depth of the riches of the wisdom and knowledge of God! How unsearchable His judgments, and His paths beyond tracing out! Romans 11:33 I pray that you, being rooted and established in love, may have power, together with all the Lord’s holy people, to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ, and to know this love that surpasses knowledge—that you may be filled to the measure of all the fullness of God. Ephesians 3:17-19 I really don’t remember where it came from, but as a child I heard that if you dig deep enough, you would end up in China. I remember the day that my girlfriend and I began to dig to see if it was true. We dug as vigorously as we could and bent