1 Corinthians 2:9b  “What no eye has seen,    what no ear has heard, and what no human mind has conceived”—    the things God has prepared for those who love him—  As I think about friends who are living with the flood damage, and the aftermath of the death of Usama bin Laden , and devastating illnesses of people I know, I wonder about God's imagination. I just watched a few minutes of a show about a photographer taking pictures of the Mohave Desert. It is a barren landscape with a lot of texture and shadows and sand. At first glimpse, all one sees is the same color of sand piled into various shapes, but still very bland. What about God's imagination here?  Think of the creation story of Genesis and the escape store in Exodus. Think of the grand miracles (calling dead Lazarus from his 4 day old tomb) and the "small" miracles (See 2 Kings 13:21 Once while some Israelites were burying a man, suddenly they saw a band of raiders; so they t...

A friend of mine went in for outpatient surgery for something minor. As it turned out, it was not minor. It was a tumor, cancerous - a recurrence of cancer. This is her 4th bout with cancer. She has had two different kinds, each two times over the course of about 30 years or so.  I didn't know her any of the other times. I'm glad to know her this time. You can order scarves here. I don't know anything about it. Her attitude is amazing. She says things like, "I can do this. I've done it before." and "I'm fortunate that I don't have small children to try to take care of while taking these treatments so I can concentrate on getting well." She is being proactive with losing her hair.  I guess she hasn't lost it with previous treatments but the side effects of this chemotherapy include likely hair loss.  She has ordered several scarves.  She says if she by chance doesn't need them, she'll give them to someone who does. She repeat...

by Deanna Etienne.  Used by permission. What do you see? Water? Rocks? Sunlight?  Do you see the frog? God made this frog this color, and shiny - like the water he lives in, to hide him from predators. Even though he is hidden from predators, he isn't out of God's sight. After Cain killed Abel, God sent him away.  Cain was afraid that he'd be hidden from God's view. Genesis 4:13 - 15 (NIV) says " Cain said to the LORD , ' My punishment is more than I can bear.....I will be hidden from your presence'. But the LORD said to him, 'Not so...'" 1 Samuel 2:3 (CEV) says: Nothing is hidden from the LORD... Job 26:6 (CEV) says: Nothing in that land.... is hidden from God... Psalm 33:15 (CEV) says "The LORD gave us each a mind, and nothing we do can be hidden from him." Psalm 38:9 (ESV) says O Lord, all my longing is before you; my sighing is not hidden from you. This is a recurring theme. Nothing is away from God's ...