Has the potter no right over the clay, to make out of the same lump one object for special use and another for ordinary use? —Romans 9:21 Common Prayer, Pocket Edition handed me the above today. At the same time, I remembered the character Crash Davis saying, “How come, in former lifetimes, everyone is someone […]

For it is clear that [Christ] did not come to help angels, but the descendants of Abraham. Therefore he had to become like his brothers and sisters in every respect […]. Because he himself was tested by what he suffered, he is able to help those who are being tested. –Hebrews 2:16-18 I wasn’t expecting […]

26 He also said, “This is what the kingdom of God is like. A man scatters seed on the ground. 27 Night and day, whether he sleeps or gets up, the seed sprouts and grows, though he does not know how. 28 All by itself the soil produces grain—first the stalk, then the head, then the full kernel […]

I’m thinking this’ll be short because my brain feels pretty empty. Plus I start this not knowing when A will call—she told me she’d call after she got home, amended to got back from shopping for cat toys as (I presume!) funded by L’s mom. L’s mom is nicer than I am. I skipped communal […]

…I do not think it means what you think it means. —paraphrase of Inigo Montoya in The Princess Bride I keep returning, over and over again, to the images of transformation I read in the Bible. Not the “do not be conformed” phrases, but the metaphors. Humans as clay in God’s hands. Humans washed of […]

(2009-01-13) Did you ever get thanked for something you didn’t realize you’d done? An argument from the professedly rational against populist Evangelicals is their notion of tiny answered prayers. What earthly sense does it make for the All-Being Master of Time, Space, and Dimension to hand out unchipped manicures and unexpected green lights? This seems […]

Jeremiah 20:(7) O Lord, you have enticed me, / and I was enticed; / you have overpowered me, / and you have prevailed. (9)If I say, “I will not mention him, / or speak any more in his name,” / then within me there is something like a burning fire / shut up in my […]

As the Father has loved me, so I have loved you; abide in my love. -John 15:9, NRSV “Abide” has a lovely antique flavor to it, like lace you find at a vintage store. I’ve always heard echoes of the Southern “bide awhile” in it…sitting on a porch with an iced drink, out of the sun […]

(This morning has no responsibilities to anyone but myself, and here I am… at 10. A data point, or maybe a handful of-!) After breakfast I chewed on the latest issue of Image as opposed to my usual Lifehacker and Solitaire. It did indeed feel more nourishing. I have dog-eared lines to show to My […]

[L]et endurance have its full effect, so that you may be mature and complete, lacking in nothing.  -James 1:4 No word from the mother ship (of writing prompts) today. I’ve been gearing up for my trip tomorrow: the usual sorts of packing activities, and my practice of setting my home to rights. I like, when […]