Florida International University Nature Preserve, June 2013

No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. For I am convinced that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor rulers, nor things present, nor things to come, nor powers, nor height, nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.
Romans 8:37-39

Every time we think God cannot possibly love us, we return to these verses and find such a love beyond all limits of our imagination waiting for us.

Florida International University Nature Preserve, June 2013

O LORD, you have searched me and known me.
You know when I sit down and when I rise up;
you discern my thoughts from far away.
You search out my path and my lying down,
and are acquainted with all my ways.
Where can I go from your spirit?
Or where can I flee from your presence?
Psalm 139:1-3,7

Our God is not some faraway distant entity out of touch with our daily joys and struggles, but has chosen to share our life with us and to know us more deeply then we even know ourselves. 

Wild Daisy, northern Georgia, June 3013

Hear, O LORD, when I cry aloud,
be gracious to me and answer me!
"Come," my heart says, "seek his face!"
Your face, LORD, do I seek.
Psalm 27:7-8

Where have I seen the face of God today? In whom? In what circumstance? 

Florida International University Natural Preserve, June 2013

But now thus says the LORD,
he who created you, O Jacob,
he who formed you, O Israel:
Do not fear, for I have redeemed you;
I have called you by name, you are mine.
When you pass through the waters, I will be with you;
and through the rivers, they shall not overwhelm you;
when you walk through fire you shall not be burned,
and the flame shall not consume you.
Isaiah 43:1-2

Perhaps the greatest currency of this world is the fear with which it traffics one more falsehood to rob us of the memory of the God who calls us by name and loves us with an everlasting love.

Florida International University Nature Preserve, June 2013

Those who trust in their riches will wither, 
but the righteous will flourish like green leaves.
Proverbs 11:28

Martin Luther once said "that to which our heart clings is our god" 
To what is your heart clinging today and is it where lasting joy is found and an unrelenting hope is promised?

Butterfly, Nature Preserve,

Florida International University, June 3013

Jesus immediately reached out his hand and caught him, saying to him, "You of little faith, why did you doubt?"

Matthew 14:31

Where our doubt is fixed, the Lord patiently offers the invitation to trust. The tension between belief and unbelief is our human condition and the Lord understands this.

Butterfly, Nature Preserve,

Florida International University, June 3013

One thing I asked of the LORD,

that will I seek after:

to live in the house of the LORD

all the days of my life,

to behold the beauty of the LORD,

and to inquire in his temple.

"Come," my heart says, "seek his face!"

Your face, LORD, do I seek.

Psalm 27:4,8

Where have you seen the beauty of the Lord, today?

Mountain Laurel, northern Georgia, June 2013

But God, who is rich in mercy, out of the great love with which he loved us even when we were dead through our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ — by grace you have been saved 

Ephesians 2:4-5

How have you honored God this day by celebrating the life you have in Christ?

Scenic Overlook, Somewhere in northern Georgia, June 2013


God is our refuge and strength,
a very present help in trouble.
Therefore we will not fear, though the earth should change,
though the mountains shake in the heart of the sea;
though its waters roar and foam,
though the mountains tremble with its tumult.
Psalm 46:1-3



In what does the Lord need to be your refuge today?
For what does the Lord need to provide you strength?

Wild Daisies along the roadside in northern Georgia, June 2013

...and to clothe yourselves with the new self, created according to the likeness of God in true righteousness and holiness.
Ephesians 4:24

"That's just how I am" far too often becomes a convenient excuse to fail to love one another as Jesus loves us. Our new self invites us into new ways of acting in the world. 

Flowers At the Side of a Dirt Road, Suches, Georgia, June 2013

Therefore, since we are justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have obtained access to this grace in which we stand; and we boast in our hope of sharing the glory of God
Roman 5:1-2

This is our present reality and our promised future. 
Every voice that seeks to diminish this is not from God.

Roadside Field, Suches, Georgia, June 2013

Whoever wants to be first must be last of all and servant of all. Then he took a little child and put it among them; and taking it in his arms, he said to them, Whoever welcomes one such child in my name welcomes me, and whoever welcomes me welcomes not me but the one who sent me.
Mark 9:35b-37

What does it mean for you that we have a God who measures greatness in humility, utility in servanthood, value in child-like wonder?

Cooper Creek, Suches, Georgia June 2013

But now thus says the LORD,
he who created you, O Jacob,
he who formed you, O Israel:
Do not fear, for I have redeemed you;
I have called you by name, you are mine.
When you pass through the waters, I will be with you;
and through the rivers, they shall not overwhelm you;
Isaiah 43:1-2a

Of what are you afraid that you need to give to the Lord this day? 
What is threatening to overwhelm you? 
What is challenging you?
You do not face it alone. 

Zebra Long Wing on Firebush, Parsonage Butterfly Garden, June 2013

I call upon you, for you will answer me, O God;
incline your ear to me, hear my words.
Wondrously show your steadfast love,
O savior of those who seek refuge
from their adversaries at your right hand.
Guard me as the apple of the eye;
hide me in the shadow of your wings,
Psalm 17:6-8

The love of God is a refuge in which we are blessed to dwell especially in the brokenness of life.

Zebra Long Wing on firebush, Parsonage Butterfly Garden, June 2013

[Jesus said] Are you able to drink the cup that I drink, or be baptized with the baptism that I am baptized with?" They replied, "We are able." Then Jesus said to them, "The cup that I drink you will drink; and with the baptism with which I am baptized, you will be baptized; 
Mark 10: 38b-39

Think your life is ordinary?
Think it is insignificant? 
[in baptism you have been crucified with Christ and you no longer live, but Jesus Christ lives in you]

Think again.