For the past 23 years of my life, Rev. Dr. Doyle Sager has been a constant -the last 21 as pastor, coworker, mentor, and friend. How easy it is to take for granted “the constants” in life. Health, time, people – all precious gifts often overlooked as everyday guarantees until absence reveals their true worth. Doyle died on January 22 from lung cancer. More importantly, he lived 69 Kingdom-building, wisdom-sharing, coffee-drinking, knowledge-seeking, baseball-cheering, people-loving, God-serving years. I will miss hearing his keys jingle in the lock of the door between our offices. I will miss seeing him walk by my…

Let me begin this post with a confession: Last week I could not remember my 2020 word for the year. No clue. On December 24, 2020, twelve months betrothed to this word, and for all the chocolate in the kingdom, I could not have told you my carefully-chosen, prayerfully-procured word for the year. I’ve been doing a word for the year rather than resolutions since 2014. It works much better for me to think big picture about the journey I want to walk in the year ahead. You can read about some of my past words here, here, here, and here. Normally, I…

It has been months since I’ve written on this blog. So much has happened since April 2020, much I never would have imagined nor have wished for any of us. It is a reminder of the gift of not always knowing what is ahead of us. For most of us, to know it all at once would be too much but to live it one day at a time has its blessings. God knows this is the most we could manage. We walk one day or an hour at a time, looking back to God’s faithfulness in our lives and…

There is a fascinating video online designed to test your awareness. (You may view it at shorturl.at/dBJS4) In the video, there are eight basketball players, four dressed in white, four dressed in black. You are challenged to count how many times the white team passes the basketball. The first time I watched it, I felt proud. I had counted correctly. What I missed completely was the guy in a bear costume moonwalking through the center of the group. I couldn’t believe it. I had been so focused on watching the white team that I missed the bear. On the walk to…

Under the Tuscan Sun is a great movie about a writer named Frances who, after learning her husband was cheating on her, gets away to Italy for what was supposed to be a brief tour. Instead, she impulsively purchases a run-down villa. The movie is about the unique challenges and beautiful people she encounters as she restores the home and her life. When Frances first came to the villa, she dreamed she would have a wedding and a family one day at the villa. Towards the end of the movie when she is discouraged, someone she loves helps her see those…

When I was younger, I used to cross-stitch. Cross-stitch is a form of sewing and counted-thread embroidery in which X-shaped stitches in a tiled, raster-like pattern are used to form a picture. It can be tedious and easy to get all your threads twisted up or to count wrong and mess up the picture. In those moments, instead of learning from my mistakes, I would place the unfinished pattern in a drawer and move on to a new project. Over the years, I gathered quite a collection of unfinished projects in that drawer. There was a little Native American girl…

A new week is knocking at the door, while last week is still sprawled out on my couch. Piles of stuff clutter home and heart and mind. Lord, it feels like there is never enough. Never enough time to rest, to think; Time to play, to breathe. To get it done. To be. Lord, it feels like I’m never enough. Never enough for family, for work; For friends. For me. For You. I’m in a race I never wanted to run, a race I don’t know how to quit. Help me slow my pace, God. Help me match my breathing…

This past weekend we received an abundance of snow. While nine inches fell at my home, some nearby were blanketed with over 14″ from Friday afternoon to Sunday morning. It is a winter wonderland here and I love it. We weren’t surprised by this storm, so I took the opportunity on Friday to go to my parent’s house and borrow a couple of puzzles from my mom’s stash in the basement. She has a collection of puzzles she purchased for her mom when she was in the senior care center and I’m cheap. Free puzzles! I decided a potential snowstorm…