Advent: Reminders of Love for All
If you have attended church for any amount of time, you are familiar with John 3:16. It reminds us that God loved us so much that he sent Jesus. Not to condemn us. To save us. From sin, darkness, death, and evil. I find that tremendously reassuring this Christmas season. I especially appreciate this passage in The Message: “This is how much God loved the world: He gave his Son, his one and only Son. And this is why: so that no one need be destroyed; by believing in him, anyone can have a whole and lasting life. God didn’t go to all the trouble of sending his Son merely…
Reflections on Reflections
Last month, our property flooded…. again. I’d been here before. The skies open up over middle Tennessee in a deluge that simply saturates the land around our home, creating a lake out of our yard and a river over our driveway. I took immediate action. I knew from experience the devastation that comes when floodwater reaches our house and seeps into the downstairs bedrooms. As we piled sandbags creating a flood barrier, the murky sea that was lush green lawn just two days prior creeped toward us, right to the corner of the house – ugly, sludgy, dismal brown. That water filled me with dread and anxiety. A few days…