Stronger Through Him

  I was staring out the window as we flew over the European Alps this morning. I was eating a decent meal of scrambled eggs and roasted cherry tomatoes and feeling the warmth in my belly.  It was toasty warm on this flight- so much so that I never even opened the blanket they gave us.  Then I noticed at the very bottom edge of my window a bit of frost on the outside.  Under magnification I could see the intricate pattern of nature in the crystalline fingers stretching from the tiny crystal.  I realized in my comfort inside the plane I hadn’t even thought about how cold it was outside. At 10,000 m up, the air is bitterly cold and that is true even if I can’t feel it.   Even if it doesn’t match what I am personally experiencing. But when I stop to look for the evidence it is there in intricate and beautiful patterns.  Sometimes in life we aren’t feeling God’s presence or love at the moment. It doesn’t seem to match what we are personal...

  A friend invited me to a small book study where we were discussing the role of the Bible and its history. The big question was whether or not we can personally have encounters with the Holy Spirit as we are reading, and thus be individually inspired by the words of God. That is such an integral part of my daily study, that it is something I find I forget to be grateful for.   I pray.  I read.  I ponder.  I listen.  I act. One of my friends shared her concerns that trusting the Spirit should be left to those who have come through Seminary.   That made me smile, as it is one of the core goals of our own seminary- to better teach teens how to have daily encounters with the Holy Spirit while reading scripture.   I came away more grateful that I know I can  “feast upon the words of Christ” and through that process be guided by the Spirit through life, becoming ever closer to the example Christ showed.

  This past weekend we decided to take a drive north to visit a section of road along the shores of Lake Michigan known as The Tunnel of Trees.  I wanted to see the fall foliage and spend the time on the scenic drive as we listened to General Conference. We decided to bring our daughter’s dog, Jett, with us.  This would save the cost of boarding or finding a caretaker for him and we thought he might enjoy exploring new areas with us. He hadn’t been on a road trip with us before and it turned out he laid perfectly still the entire 5 hr journey, not chewing or barking or even looking out the windows.   He did nothing except pass gas.   The whole way. From a stomach that apparently was nervous about the car ride. The windows would all come down and George and I would cringe and comment. It continued at the pet friendly hotel with George  exclaiming he couldn’t sleep and his eyes were burning. All humor aside, we could have focused solely on ...