Lord, teach me. . . .

True wealth is not of the pocket, but of the heart and of the mind. –Kevin Gates Two truths and a lie (You’ve played this game, right? I won this game once with these statements: I have completed four marathons in my lifetime; I was once a Miss USA candidate; and I was once Drew Barrymore’s babysitter. But this article isn’t about moi.) #1. Stewardship is something we should consider all year long , not just “in season.” True! God’s Creation clearly shows growth and focus during the springtime—but that doesn’t mean everything is on hold during the other three seasons. Summer capitalizes on what spring has begun. Autumn brings many fruits to bear, ready for harvest. And during the winter, as the creation cycle is complete, the earth rests, but is hardly inactive. #2. Jesus talked about money all the time in his ministry. True again! Some say Jesus taught about money more than he taught about any other issue! A quick Google popped up over fifty occasions when Jesu...

Seek God every morning. Trust God every moment. --Lailah Gifty Akita I was never very good at hide-and-seek as a child. When it was my turn to hide, I would duck behind a bush—only to find someone else already there, shoving me away. Go find your own spot! And when I did find a good hiding place, invariably, without fail, I would sneeze. Or cough. Found you! Then it would be my turn to seek. I would hide my eyes . . . count to ten. . . . Ready or not! Here I come! I would look and look, until finally, in desperation, I would return “Home”—only to see my friends casually lounging, waiting for me. What? WHAT?? We’ve been here all along! You must be blind. It seems, somehow, the more things change, the more they stay the same. Only now, some days, it’s God I play with. I can be having one of those days, wondering, Why do I feel so alone, so empty? God, I just can’t seem to find you—anywhere! Then I turn around, and there’s a stately buck in the backyard, blin...

The truth is incontrovertible. Malice may attack it, ignorance may deride it,  but in the end, there it is. –Winston Churchill I lost a mentor recently, a woman whom I never met, but whose life journey so paralleled my own in many ways, she felt like my baby sister. My much, much wiser baby sister. Rachel Held Evans was a writer and a theologian, a brilliant storyteller. I first “encountered” her in Monkey Town, aka, Dayton, Tennessee, where she grew up. Dayton is where the Scopes Monkey Trials were held; as a child of the conservative evangelical church, Rachel’s questions about evolution/ Scripture were seldom addressed as serious. She left the church and later returned. It was her relationship with God that kept her coming back, even when her relationship with the church went south. Even though she was 25 years younger, Rachel’s questions were often my questions; she gave permission to ask them: How can this story in the Bible be true if it doesn’t jive with s...

Giving is an act of generosity. Giving is sowing a seed. The seed will produce a great harvest of fruits. -- Lailah Gifty Akita Over the past few months, I have had some delightful conversations with a gentleman named Bert. Bert, in his words, definitely has more days behind him than he has remaining ahead. In other words, he is getting up in years. Now Bert, by his very nature, is a generous man. He is a faithful giver to his church, and is first in line making extra gifts when it’s needed and he has the resources to help. He says his income is limited. But with the income he has, he is determined to make a difference in the world. Look up the word generosity in the dictionary. You’ll see Bert’s picture, right there. But what I really love is his attitude. Bert tells me he wants to die with an empty bank account. And he hopes his last check before he dies bounces. (He laughed and added, “And I hope I don’t write it to you!”) After all, he says, he won’t...