Living life with steps of faith

This has been a week of God sightings. This past Monday immediately after receiving a phone call that could have made me very nervous, a beautiful, bright rainbow with clearly defined colors appeared perfectly framed by my living room window on a sunny day.   It was as if God was saying "I promised" and "It will turn out alright." This morning I had a dream where an acquaintance came to my door and asked me to intercede in prayer for him.   And this past week my mom encouraged me to contact this pastor who lives 1,000 miles away whom I have never met to see if he would be willing to meet.  I contacted a member of his church and within 24 hours I received an email response saying that this pastor will be in my neighborhood this upcoming week and was given his cell number! In none of these circumstances was I expecting to hear from God.  Perhaps I should be listening more!

Note - this is in process and may be edited from time to time. Personal Mission To recognize and highlight the Imago Dei in all of God's human creation. 1) As a child of God, I am inspired to embody the aroma of Jesus Christ while daily taking steps of faith that reflect my reliance on the ever-present love and wisdom of God. 2) As a family member and friend, I am committed to being a prayerful, honest, and loving presence; a loved one who is willing to take the risk, to create and preserve sacred space. What I seek in return is a space where I can also be vulnerable and admit my sin and receive God's grace. 3) As a minister of God's healing grace, I am called to be a messenger--translating across cultural ravines--for the purpose of: a) building unity in the church, b) furthering the kingdom of God, c) sharing the good news of Jesus Christ and life in the Spirit. My Core Values: Serving and ministering to those marginalized by church and society. Protecting...

“So he got up, took the child and his mother during the night and left for Egypt, where he stayed until the death of Herod. And so was fulfilled what the Lord had said through the prophet: ‘Out of Egypt I called my son.’” Matthew 2:14-15 In Matthew’s version of the Christmas story, we discover that much of Jesus’ early life is reminiscent of the prophet Moses’ early life.  Both Jesus and Moses were born to a family line that was respected and recognized as set-apart by God: Jesus, a descendent of King David, and Moses, born into the house of the Levites.  Jesus was born during the oppressive rule of King Herod and Moses was born during the oppressive rule of Pharaoh.  Both political leaders chose to kill infants and toddlers that would have been the peers to these babes, and in the process, if it weren’t for divine intervention, both of these men would have been killed. When we read about the early life of Jesus, we learn that his father responded to God-given dreams b...

“If the entire Israelite community sins by violating one of the LORD’s commands, but the people don’t realize it, they are still guilty.” – Leviticus 4:13  Before I went to seminary, I had never heard of corporate sin, or at least I had never heard it named that way before.   Of course, I was aware of pollution, racism, and the like, but I had thought of these social issues as individual problems – a bunch of individuals acting sinfully, not as a community sinning in one accord.   Then I was challenged to read an Emilie M. Townes book on womanism.   Womanism is the feminism of African-Americans who carry the weight of both gender and racial injustice.   And I was amazed and convicted by what I read.   I learned that there are both systems we establish and support and cultural rhythms that we practice as a community that are sinful.   I learned that when we concede to a cultural habit or system that perpetuates a sin, we are corporately sinning.  ...

Jesus is a great teacher.  He teaches with wisdom and great deeds of power. In Matthew 13 we find him teaching about the kingdom of heaven.   He recognizes that at some point evil will be removed from the earth. Jesus claims to be a prophet. He uses parables to teach so that those who are to hear do hear the message and those who are not to hear remain hard of hearing.  Yet, he wants his disciples to understand so that they can record and pass down his message. He reveals to them the secrets that have been hidden since the beginning of the world. Jesus walks among the people and uses agriculture as an illustrative tool. He teaches the crowds (strangers) along the shoreline, his disciples in a private home, and his family and neighbors in the synagogue. Jesus is part of a family that includes brothers and sisters. Big Idea: Jesus walks among the people teaching and prophesying about the kingdom of heaven. Profound Identity Jesus left the house (Matthew 13:1). J...

  “ So God created mankind in his own image,    in the image of God he created them;    male and female he created them. “ Genesis 1:27 This is the foundation of our identity as human beings – created beings made to reflect the image of God.   As such, we are blessed with authority and abilities that no other living creation possesses.   We create.   We think.   We value relationships.   Our existence is a testimony to God’s existence. And as Christians, this identity becomes the heartbeat of our ethics.   We make decisions and behave in manners that recognize the value of human life. We look at our relatives, our friends, our colleagues, and even the stranger on the street and take the time to see the image of God in each of them.   We know that each and every life is precious, including our own. We also recognize the intimacy with God that this identity engenders.   As ones created in God...

"Therefore every scribe who has been trained for the kingdom of heaven is like the master of a household who brings out of his treasure what is new and what is old." - Matthew 13:52