Devils Lake Journal – Page 20

Death in the Pot

There are some pictures too ugly to paint with words. I recently visited a friend who is homeless and suicidal. While speaking with my friend, I remembered times past when I sat beside the ICU bed of first her father and then her mother whose organs shut down after lifetimes of habitual drugContinue reading “Death in the Pot”

Star Stuff is Still Dust

American Astronomer Carl Sagan narrated Cosmos: A Personal Voyage, an award winning television series that became the most widely watched series in the history of television. In public elementary school, many students like me were shown clips of Sagan’s series, where he told us, “The nitrogen in our DNA, the calcium in ourContinue reading “Star Stuff is Still Dust”

Keep Watching

Jesus was dead. All was darkness. The greatest surprise I ever experienced happened in the dark. My father and I were sitting on a boat in the ocean. We were far enough from land that we couldn’t see any light, and both of us were gazing toward the eastern horizon. Thousands of miles away layContinue reading “Keep Watching”

All my Strength

“You just need to be strong.” In a Bible study with incarcerated women, I often heard this exhortation from one to another. It was a vague admonishment to resist emotion and put up a block wall to seal out the tragic, terrible things they had seen. It didn’t work. Each day’s physical strength drops likeContinue reading “All my Strength”

All my Mind

Dementia is a frightening prospect. We watch elderly relatives struggle with how to make a sandwich, what day it is, how to get dressed, or even who we are, and fear wells up within us. We mourn the loss of who they used to be as we also dread the possibility ofContinue reading “All my Mind”

All My Soul

In pre-marriage counseling, I told our Pastor, “I really hate folding socks.” It’s still true today. Socks are annoying. You have to locate both of them, and then, more often than not, you have to turn them inside out. Maybe it’s my innate laziness, or maybe it’s that I don’t really care ifContinue reading “All My Soul”

All My Heart

“Why does God want my heart?” It was a simple question from a young child in Sunday School. But it stumped me. I had to hunt for the answer. The Greatest Commandment begins with, “Love the Lord your God with all your heart,” and it is a recurring theme throughout Scripture. But whyContinue reading “All My Heart”

Where the Lord is at Home

So many children’s books have to do with home. From Little House on the Prairie to A House is a House for Me and from Sweet Home Alaska to The Hobbit, the search for a place of comfort and belonging is universal. So many of the children I have discipled have noContinue reading “Where the Lord is at Home”

The Verbs of Sin

Verbs stick out. They help your mind connect with what you are reading or listening to. Have you ever noticed the verbs of sin? Crouch, ensnare, separate, consume, harden, heap, and bring forth death make me want to run the other way. However, when sin is still only a temptation, I oftenContinue reading “The Verbs of Sin”

Bringing Holiness to Completion

Between Russia invading Ukraine and covid issues, problems fracture us. There are plenty of opinions but very few solutions. What if we could find all the solutions and be made whole? Isn’t that what the Ancient Greeks were looking for when they visited the Oracle of Delphi? Columbus searched for answers on everyContinue reading “Bringing Holiness to Completion”