His Words for When There is No Hope
Sometimes, in life, we go through seasons when there appears to be no light at the end of the tunnel, and really, no end of the tunnel at all. Hope can feel illusive, but He has something to say about that. May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, so that by the power of the Holy Spirit you may abound in hope. ~ Romans 15:13 ESV For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the Lord, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future. ~ Jeremiah 29:11 NIV And now, O Lord, for what do I wait? My hope is in you. ~ Psalm 39:7 ESV We were saved in hope. If we see what we hope for, that isn’t hope. Who hopes for what they...
The Grandpa I Never Knew
He's always been a bit of a mystery to me, my father's father. Because he died in a random car accident at the age of 87, and when I was just two weeks old, I have no memory of him at all. He's a mishmash of family lore and photos in my mind, yet his blood courses through my veins in a symphony of genetics. John Wesley Robinson, born on this day in the year of our country's centennial, would be 140 years old if he was still living. Remember, now, that this is my grandfather, the only "great" in front of his name being about his character. He was 60 years old when my father was born (which makes just about every man I've told stand and salute) and there was a story about him walking...
Shelved
I've been watching a lot of Toy Story lately. While Brody doesn't ask to watch TV all day long (hurray!), he has taken a shine to this particular movie trilogy and wants it and it alone when the mood strikes. And you know what? That's fine with me. If I have to watch any kids' movie series, this is a great one. Yesterday, we watched Toy Story 2. In this installment, Woody gets his arm torn loose at the seam just before he and his owner, Andy, are headed off to Cowboy Camp. Mom offers to try and fix Woody on the way, but, defeated, Andy tells Mom no, to just leave him, and she sits poor Woody up on the dusty shelf. Woody has been Andy's number one, go-to toy from the moment he was...
Messy Life
Brody was asleep, and because Lilli was off school on Monday, the two of us spent his naptime hours together. We brought down some games from upstairs and jumped in with gusto. Girlfriend LOVES games. Toward the end of his naptime, and of the last game, she stood back and looked at all the pieces of several games splayed out in front of us. Since we'd moved from one game to the next without cleaning up in between, it was quite a spectacle. "Wow, Mimmie. What we have here is one MESSY life! I'm gonna need some HELP cleaning THIS up!" One messy life. I've never heard her put that phrase together but I was completely taken with it. My STARS but she's right. This IS a messy, messy life,...
Jesus, Take the Wheel
She was loaded up in her booster seat, dressed in a sassy black-with-stars leotard, with her hair in a top knot. This was my first time taking Lilli to her new gymnastics class, and she was pretty excited about it. I plugged the address into my phone's GPS, and the conversation started. "Mimmie, you're not going to let the phone tell you where to go, are you?" "Well, yes, honey. I've never been there before, so I need it to tell me where to go." "I've been there before, Mimmie! I can show you how to get there!" Curious, but not enough to depend entirely on a 5-year-old's sense of direction, I muted the sound of the GPS and put it where I could see it. "Okay, Lilli. You tell me where...