Going Where Your Feet Don’t Touch The Bottom

Snorkeling in Hawaii. Sounds wonderful doesn’t it? I was on the vacation of a lifetime. Everyone else was going snorkeling, so I said: “What the heck.” Without life jackets, the group headed into the water from the beach. I was ok until my flippers didn’t touch bottom. Then, I got a little shaky. Thoughts of self-preservation overtook any thoughts of a Kodak moment in the Pacific. So I stayed back and snorkeled in the shallow water. Come on, it was still beautiful. I saw lots of brown driftwood, and an occasional yellow fish. Alright, it didn’t quite compare with the stories I heard from the group - giant sea turtles, coral the color of the rainbow, fish too beautiful to describe in words. I guess I missed out on something amazing because out of fear, I wouldn’t go where my feet didn’t touch the bottom. Hmm...

Somewhere Over the Rainbow

Did you ever stop and think about the similarities between the Wizard of Oz story and Christian discipleship? Look, - an unfulfilled farm girl is looking for happiness in the glitz and glamour of the carnival. She’s on a path to disaster when her world is turned upside down (literally). She lands safely, but in a strange new world. In this new life she finds a community of people willing to help her on her walk. She finds the way is made perfectly clear to her. She finds an advocate in the good witch. Someone who helps her fight evil. Because evil does pursue her but can’t overpower her. Hmm...

Staying Too Close to Where You Got In

It was bedtime for little Danny. Danny’s mom hoisted him into bed, said a prayer, kissed him on his sweaty six-year-old forehead and tiptoed out of the room. Danny’s mom then hightailed it down the hallway into her own room and jumped in bed where a glass of red wine and the latest Jodi Picoult book lay waiting. (Moms, you know it doesn’t get any better than that!) Just as Danny’s mom started to relax, she heard a thud and then the sound that brings terror to the hearts of resting moms everywhere...