let her stay
One of the books that has challenged me most in my faith, my ever-present battle against selfishness and my attitude toward death is a book called 'Stepping Heavenward,' a journal written by Elizabeth Prentiss (1818-1878). I have read it twice, and both times, I hoped that I would remember a certain excerpt when the time came to release my mom from this binding world into eternity. Thankfully, the Lord did in fact bring it to my mind, and I originally wrote this post two weeks after she died (now two years ago). I hope the following excerpt will be a blessing and a challenge to you as...
the pathway home
I've written a lot in this series about heaven as our true home, and what a blessing it is to be able to look forward to eternity. But the path to heaven is not always smooth sailing, is it? The following excerpt comes from Charles Spurgeon's Morning and Evening. It's a devotional written on Jude 24, on the words, "Able to keep you from falling." Read on, and be encouraged: "In some sense the path to heaven is very safe, but in other respects there is no road so dangerous. It is beset with difficulties. One false step (and how easy it is to take that if grace be absent), and down we go....
when home hurts
It's the child who lingers as long as possible on the school grounds after the building as been locked, for fear of what he might find at home. It's the husband who stays late at the office every night, then heads to the bar for drinks to decrease the number of hours his wife is able to nag him when he eventually drags himself home. It's the widow who cries silent tears into the screaming void of an empty house. As I mentioned in the preface to this series, nobody has the same concept or definition of home ... not even two children raised in the same house. For far too many, home hurts....
the greatest compliment
Yesterday I asked the question, "What defines your home when it comes to hospitality?" Do you have an open door policy? Do you panic when visitors arrive and your house is in a shambles? I was so encouraged recently when I heard a respected mother in our church say, "The greatest compliment anyone can give me is if they feel free to take a nap on my couch." Think about that. The greatest compliment, to her, is not when people praise the tidiness of her home. It is not when they verbally admire the decor or her cooking abilities. It is when they show that they feel comfortable. Warmly...
the open door policy
You know the feeling. That moment when your doorbell rings, and you weren't expecting guests. Maybe it's noon and you're still in your pajamas. Your frantic eyes sweep the floor of the living room and return with a mental dustpan filled with remnants of the kids' pajamas, a used, crumpled up tissue, a marker without a cap, an unmarried flip flop that longs to be wed, a handful of runaway Cheerios ... You cringe, and turn your attention to the unannounced visitor waiting on the other (cleaner) side of the door. It has happened to me. It happened to Lisa-Jo Baker, too. In that moment,...
hungering for home
This past Sunday in church, our pastor spoke of how common it is for people who are about to die to lose their appetite. He then shared of a man who was on his death bed and was offered food. The dying man tried to eat but was unable to do so, and politely declined. He then opened his mouth and explained, "The Bread of Life is near." As sad as that situation was, what a lovely testimony to have such a firm hope in the Bread of Life that awaited him in glory. It got me thinking about whether I truly hunger for the Bread of Life, or whether I satisfy my appetite on temporary, worldly...
when home is not the same
I walked down the arrivals corridor, shoulder muscles screaming for sleep after thirty hours of transatlantic travel. My aching, swollen feet had frequented this drab stretch of carpet numerous times in the eight years leading up to this occasion, but this time was different. On every other trip, without fail, come rain, storm or hail, the same smiling eyes that nursed me to sleep as an infant were waiting to greet me at the end of the corridor. But like I said, this time … was different. You know that phrase, “conspicuous by its absence”? Well, her absence was not just conspicuous. It...
longing for a better country
"All these people were still living by faith when they died. They did not receive the things promised; they only saw them and welcomed them from a distance, admitting that they were foreigners and strangers on earth. People who say such things show that they are looking for a country of their own. If they had been thinking of the country they had left, they would have had opportunity to return. Instead, they were longing for a better country—a heavenly one. Therefore God is not ashamed to be called their God, for he has prepared a city for them." Hebrews 11:13-16, NIV May this passage...
comfortable
A good friend recently gave me a desk calendar from (in)Courage. One morning I flipped the page and the following quote appeared: "I don't plan to ever get comfortable enough in this world that I forget about the real one." ~ Heather Gemmen Wilson I liked it so much that I cut it out and put it on my fridge as a visual reminder. Have you gotten comfortable in this world? Do you sometimes forget about the real one? How can we encourage one another to be ever mindful of the world to come? This is Day 19 of 'Defining Home in 31 Days.' Click here to for a full list of posts in the series....
attitudes and accents
When I stepped onto that plane just shy of 21 years old, little did I know just how much things would change. I was saying goodbye to the only town I’d ever known – a predominantly Dutch, middle-class, American suburb – and walking into the bustling, diverse metropolis of Cape Town. Forget trying to fit in … the moment I opened my mouth, my tongue betrayed me, and my twangy American accent stuck out like a sore thumb. The irony is that now, after spending over ten years living amongst South Africans, the harshness of my American accent has been sanded down, and what remains is often not...
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