Courage & Fear

Courage and Fear Courage is armor a blind man wears; The calloused scar of outlived despairs: Courage is Fear that has said its prayers. Karle Wilson Baker, 1878 Luke 12:32  Do not fear, little flock, for it is your Father’s good pleasure to give you the kingdom.  Courage empowers while fear can feel utterly dreadful.  […]

Loved by an Unchanging God

I am impressed by how life is ever changing. And we all know how changes can be thrust upon us quickly without advanced notice. A dear friend is struggling through the fallout of a failed marriage. A pastor friend has just been driven out of his pastorate by unscrupulous church leadership. My brother is recovering […]

Reverencing the God We Seek

“Who is like you, O LORD, among the gods? Who is like you, majestic in holiness, awesome in glorious deeds, doing wonders?”    Exodus 15:11 Two weeks ago I shared with you the Prayer of Jesus as found in John Chapter 17—in that chapter he prays for himself, his disciples who were gathered with him, and […]

Loosening the Grip of Strongholds

2 Corinthians 10:4  The weapons of our warfare are not fleshly, but are powerful through God for the demolition of strongholds. The Definition of a Stronghold can be viewed positively or negatively.  While the formal definition is:  “a place where a particular cause or belief is strongly defended or upheld.”  When the word stronghold is […]

Waiting Rooms

Luke 2:21-38, Psalm 37:1-9, 2 Peter 3:8,9 These are days of waiting:   we await a vaccine….we await the return to a “non-lockdown” life….we wait for the economy to normalize….for the election to finalize….for injustices to be addressed….we await Christmas….we wait for the blood test results.    How do you feel about waiting?  Do you enjoy a […]

Unexpected and Undeserved

John 1:14  And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we beheld His glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth. For the past five Sunday’s it has been my distinct privilege to be preaching through the first Chapter of John’s gospel.  Early in the […]

Walking Through Heartache

Luke 24:13-37 These days I have chosen, what would have been considered in my younger years a rather sedate form of exercise, I walk… in the summer, I bike.   Two weeks ago my brother did what he has done for many years—he hitched his two German Shepherds to the front of his bicycle and they […]

January 2021

The Gift of Today! There were a few days just before Christmas when I experienced a period of melancholy.  I know from my experience and the experience of others that this is not at all uncommon around holidays for a whole complexity of reasons, and if you add to those reasons the effects of Covid […]

Treespiration

I know “treespiration” is not a word, nor is zimspiration (the name of my website,) but I like the idea of inventing new words even if Webster’s won’t publish them.   My made up definition of “Treespiration” is simply: the inspiration and appreciation we derive from contemplating Trees.   Trees can inspire and teach.  Trees offer natural […]

Waiting Rooms

Luke 2:21-38, Psalm 37:1-9, 2 Peter 3:8,9 These are days of waiting:   we await a vaccine….we await the return to a “non-lockdown” life….we wait for the economy to normalize….for the election to finalize….for injustices to be addressed….we await Christmas….we wait for the blood test results.    How do you feel about waiting?  Do you enjoy a […]