Someone cut down my tree. It was a beautiful crepe myrtle that bloomed in the spring with fistfuls of confetti-white blossoms. I enjoyed the full branches as they wished me good morning while I ate breakfast. They sheltered my favorite cardinals close enough for me to see their beady black eyes looking at me. The tree was my shelter, too. Through spring and summer and early fall, we eat on our screened in porch where our open-armed tree gave us privacy. But someone cut it

No one likes to be singled out for doing something wrong, especially when it is unintentional. That's what happened to Jesus' disciples as they walked hungry through a grain field. They picked some grain to stave hunger pains until they could get a regular meal. Read the Story: One Sabbath Jesus was going through the grainfields, and his disciples began to pick some heads of grain . . . Some of the Pharisees asked, “Why are you doing what is unlawful?” Luke 6:1,2 The probl

No one tears a patch from a new garment and sews it on an old one. Luke 5:36 When is old over? When is it time for something new? Read Luke 5:36-37 In Jesus’ day, the old ways were bringing people down. Not because old is bad; but because old doesn’t make something new. The old law had holes in it. Mostly they were holes that the priests caused. They were holes of legalism--follow all the rules to be right with God. They were holes of self-righteous piety--I am better t

Sometimes I see myself too well in scripture, and not where I would like. I would like to be the little boy who brought the basket of fish and bread to Jesus, or one of the servants at the wedding who filled the barrels with water without complaining or the Roman officer who knew Jesus could heal his servant with just a word. Instead I find myself in the stories of the fearful, questioning, logical ones whose awkward tries to understand Jesus gave Him an opportunity to teach