simply me and jeans

“The gatekeeper opens the gate for him (the shepherd), and the sheep recognize his voice and come to him. He calls his own sheep by name and leads them out.”  John 10:3 “Karen” So clearly in my mind that I open my eyes and wait to see if it comes again. Nothing. That one word […]

I was at Starbucks for 2 hours today trying to make progress on this book we’re writing. That didn’t happen. Instead, I spent an hour talking to a young man about college, how tired he was, trying to encourage him and another hour trying to get my computer to work. Because I’d lost all focus, […]

I can’t sleep. I’m not sure if it’s because I’ve become accustomed to little sleep over the last 4 weeks or if it’s something else. I grab my headphones and turn on some worship music as I lie in the dark.  Surely I’ll fade into rest soon enough. But I don’t. There hasn’t been a […]

Youthful ignorance saw myself as average.  A pretty vessel that could be used by the master but was just as easily left on the shelf as an addition to His collection or passed over in favor of the beautiful vases with curved necks and golden engravings.  Acceptable but not extraordinary. Experience proved myself to be […]

Music touches the core of who I am and can speak truth into places that are cold and hard to the influence of anything else. It melts me, inspires me, heals me, encourages me, fills me with joy, with gratitude, with power, with memories and with praise for someone much greater than   the circumstances around […]

Over the last month, various circumstances have aligned to remind me of an obvious and basic truth of life.  It’s as if God has been setting up dominoes  in an intricate pattern of intertwining circles that would eventually topple into one another only to end in a mess at the center of it all.  A […]

As I listened to my oldest daughter talk about the life of a young mom the other day, I clearly remembered writing this journal entry years ago.  The feelings of loneliness, boredom, doubt and exhaustion came flooding back and I had to rummage through old journals until I found it.  Not because it’s all that good; but, […]

I feel like Peter today. There’s a storm raging around me – both literally and figuratively. I’ve been in storms before so my heart really should know where to find its’ rest. I know where my eyes should focus in order to ride it out… or better yet, on whom. And for a few seconds, […]

It’s baby season in our town.  They’re popping out all over the place. Beautiful and precious babies that are poised to learn all kinds of things from this world and the people around them.That’s both terrifying and promising in the world we have created for ourselves. I remember sitting on the edge of my bed […]

 And he said, “The Son of Man must suffer many things and be rejected by the elders, the chief priests and the teachers of the law, and he must be killed and on the third day be raised to life.” Luke 9:22 NIV I didn’t plan to read this passage for Good Friday but don’t […]