esther
"So he set a royal crown on her head and made her queen." Esther...
Sabbath Rest in the Midst of a Pandemic
My small group kicked off 2020 by reading The Ruthless Elimination of Hurry by John Mark Comer. It was a challenging but welcome push for our group of mostly 30-somethings to consider how our pace of life might be impacting our emotional and spiritual health. One of the chapters we were...
Gratitude in a Pandemic
Well, here we are, in the middle of the Coronavirus pandemic. A lot of people have had the illness, many of whom were never tested and will never know they had it. Some people are sick now. Some have died. A lot of people have lost their jobs, possibly temporarily and possibly...
Inconvenient Faith
Facebook reminded me that years ago, while I was a teacher on spring break, I lamented the fact that I wasn’t selected for jury duty. At that time, I was excited at the possibility of serving on a jury while I was on vacation. I didn’t mind going into court, waiting around, or...
A Close Call with Coronavirus
I had a close call with Coronavirus recently, but don’t worry, I don’t have it! It was an early afternoon on a Sunday and I felt more tired than usual as I wrapped up work at the hospital. As a physician it’s not unusual to work multiple weeks in a row so I figured it...
Lent: The Immediate Season
Passing into Lent again, our thoughts of course turn to whatever it is we’re going to ‘give up’ this season. This ancient practice, which really began as a fasting exercise, now extends to include the trimming of anything in our lives we have become attached to in an...
Still Waters
During a Yosemite photography workshop in 2013, two fellow participants and I spent an unguided afternoon in search of new landscapes. We ended up by a slow-moving stretch of the Merced River, and my companions set up their tripods facing it. I wandered further downstream and happened...
What are you going to choose?
“Jesse, you have a choice. You can use your time and energy in having a bad attitude and being upset that you have homework and you’ll still have to do the homework. Or, you can use your time and energy to get it done and when it’s done, you’ll probably be in a...
Green Thumbs and New Places
“I think you should face the facts—you just don’t have a green thumb.” Those were the words of my husband to me as we stood in Trader Joe’s deciding whether or not to get a few more herb plants. At that point, I had already killed three herb plants...
Frodo Makes Sense of Advent
“Therefore the Lord Himself will give you a sign: Behold, the virgin shall conceive and bear a Son, and shall call His name Immanuel.” (Isa. 7:14 NKJV) My biennial reading of The Lord of the Rings trilogy has coincided with Advent this year. In October, three...