You know what one of my favorite things is about blogging and social media? The relationships formed there. You know what one of my other favorite things about it is? Jumping the screen into real life with those same relationships. There is really nothing quite like it.Yesterday, I met sweet Kathleen for the first time in real life (more commonly known in the blog world as "Sassy Granny"). We knew quite a bit about each other through our blogs and have even taken it a step further into email. She has stormed the heavens on my family's behalf time and again, and has shared truth with me, and her other readers, with equal measures of charm, wit and grace. I couldn't wait to hug her neck for...

I've been spending some time in Acts lately. This morning, I was reading about Peter and John:One day Peter and John were going up to the temple at the time of prayer—at three in the afternoon. Now a man crippled from birth was being carried to the temple gate called Beautiful, where he was put every day to beg from those going into the temple courts. Acts 3:1-2 NIV Think about this picture for a minute. There is a person, crippled from birth, begging at a gate called "Beautiful." Is this not a picture of our society today? Men and women, "broken" from birth, begging for acceptance at an illusive "gate" called "Beautiful." A gate that promises to lead to happiness and fulfillment, but was...

So many of us here in blogdom are speakers, bible teachers, or are involved in some sort of ministry. It can be a slippery slope to stay focused on the specific call to which the Lord has brought us.Today, I read a great post from my dear friend and ministry partner, Mary Snyder, that addresses just that. It's an incredible word for all of us, no matter our area of service. Please head on over there and read it, won't you?

I read the story of that day, 2000+ years ago, every Good Friday.It was a day that started with betrayal, and quickly spiraled downward from there, to include an arrest by the authorities, denial by the closest of friends, a call and sentence to murder, bludgeoning, humiliation, public flogging, mocking, nails hammered into flesh and thorns worn as a crown. It was a day where the sun was hidden by a darkness like night and a Father allowed the final blow to a Son by an unprecedented separation of heart.That day was anything but "good." And yet, without it, where would we be?As I was thinking about this, I remembered a friend of mine whose son broke his leg while they were on vacation. It...

You know what amazes me?God.Sounds like a pat answer from a Christian blogger, doesn't it? But, really, I'm serious.In the past two weeks, I've had the opportunity to celebrate the coming birth of two girls: a ministry by that very name, and a little granddaughter named Lilli.At a North Carolina strategy meeting with a group of women's ministry leaders, Mary and I shared the development of gIRL™, which has involved us hanging on to God for dear life as He's gone about her formation.At a beautiful baby shower I celebrated a slower-paced journey that has involved Him holding my hand as He's deliberately, and sometimes very painfully, walked me through each step of forming our Lilli.As...