Song of Songs 2:11-12a

for now the winter is past,
the rain is over and gone.
The flowers appear on the earth;
the time of singing has come
Song of Songs 2:11-12a

Along the shore of Burns Lake, Big Cypress National Preserve, April 2014

We find renewal for our faith in the most unexpected of places, the beauty of the work of the Spirit, the sure evidence of the hand of God. And our only response is pure joy. But this requires eyes willing to see and feet willing to carry us out into such places and hearts prepared to encounter a God that will not be limited by how we have paced off our world and drawn our boundaries. 

Psalm 139:9-12

If I take the wings of the morning
and settle at the farthest limits of the sea,
even there your hand shall lead me,
and your right hand shall hold me fast.
If I say, "Surely the darkness shall cover me,
and the light around me become night,"
even the darkness is not dark to you;
the night is as bright as the day,
for darkness is as light to you.
Psalm 139: 9-12

Litchfield Beach, December 2012

The worst of our days, the most anxious, the most stressful, those that threaten to pull us in and down and deep shall not define us. They are robbed of speaking the final word. Before the Lord who has claimed us, who accompanies us, who enwraps us with his mercy and love, darkness must flee, for in Christ the light is dawning and will ever dawn until our tomorrows lead us into the eternity of our rest in him. 

John 12:26a

Whoever serves me must follow me, and where I am, there will my servant be also. 
John 12:26a

Pelicans, Litchfield Beach, December 2013

To follow Jesus is to take his commandment to love seriously. We show our love for God mostly deeply and most plainly in our love for the other, especially those most unlikely to reply in kind quickly or easily or even ever. It is there where Jesus invites us to join him: binding up the brokenness of the world.

Isaiah 42:16

I will lead the blind
by a road they do not know,
by paths they have not known
I will guide them.
I will turn the darkness before them into light,
the rough places into level ground.
These are the things I will do,
and I will not forsake them.
Isaiah 42:16

Litchfield Beach, December 2013

Getting lost is easy. As the parent's of any three year-old. Ask anyone before the age of Goole Maps and Garmin and turn by turn directions. Ask anyone who has ever driven in Washington, DC at any time. But there is a different kind of lost. About the untethering of soul from hope. About wandering aimlessly and falling into endless patterns and cycles of actions and behaviors that lead us nowhere or at least nowhere good. God has promised that wherever we walk, whatever we do, that God's love for us will not be withdrawn. And that there will always be a light to guide us. To lead us in welcoming splendor through a better way to the place of fully realized joy.  

1 Pete 3: 15-16a

...but in your hearts sanctify Christ as Lord. Always be ready to make your defense to anyone who demands from you an accounting for the hope that is in you; yet do it with gentleness and reverence...
1 Peter 3:15-16a

Osprey, At the Marina, Flamingo, Everglades National Park, February 2014

We all have a story of hope dwelling within us; A testimony of the power of grace in which we, ourselves, have encountered the crucified and living Christ. Such narratives of hope are not only for ourselves, or primarily  for ourselves, but serve as that through which the story of salvation is encountered by others as we live out the Great Commission.  

Psalm 108:4-5

For your steadfast love is higher than the heavens,
and your faithfulness reaches to the clouds.
Be exalted, O God, above the heavens,
and let your glory be over all the earth.
Psalm 108:4-5

Hollywood Beach, Florida, March 2014

Plain and simple: we know love because God first loved us.  And God's love-bearing presence is made most truly manifest in Christ who embodied God's love in humility and servanthood and faithfulness. The glory of that love echoes all around us. Look. Slow down. See with your heart and mind and Spirit, signs of the Master's hand. 

Psalm 90:1-3

LORD, you have been our dwelling place
in all generations.
Before the mountains were brought forth,
or ever you had formed the earth and the world,
from everlasting to everlasting you are God.
You turn us back to dust,
and say, "Turn back, you mortals."
Psalm 90:1-3

Snake Warrior Island, Miramar, Florida, March 2014

Our life is but a series of turnings, turning back from our way and seeking God's way. The scriptures become our path. Not a book of rules to use to condemn others, but that which reveals the deepest desire of God's own heart: to gathering us from the north and the south and the east and the west and enwrap us in such a grace-infused love in and through Christ Jesus that we, ourselves are transformed by it.