My Lovely Dwelling Place

The Noise from Somewhere in the Basement There is a strange noise coming from somewhere in the basement.  It is an intermittent roaring of water running somewhere. I’m the only one that can hear this rather consistent noise. The five able-bodied, capable men I live with have never heard it and don’t know what I am talking about. Apparently, despite current cultural trends, there are two genders: females with functioning auditory organs and males without such. In their defense, my two dogs, both female, have not noticed the noise from the basement either.  My older dog, Charlie, a mixed breed shelter special with unusual skills – like snoring while begging, hearing the sound of a knife and cutting board from a block away, and barking at random squirrels she cannot see while lying on her pillow – has not hearkened to the sound coming from somewhere in the basement.  My younger dog, Lucy, a beagle/shepherd mix with high energy, fast speed, and an affinity...

Blessed I got saved in 1979. That same year Bob Dylan released his song “Gotta Serve Somebody” from his gospel album Slow Train Coming. My little enclave of saved friends would listen to that album and be encouraged by its truth. Everybody serves somebody – it’s not what we’re thinking of when we launch in life. It’s not what we imagine when we yearn for independence – when we think about making it on our own. When we struggle with career choices and relationships, we are usually not thinking about serving somebody. We’re thinking of independence – freedom – autonomy. When I was a teen, I used to love to drive – I relished the feeling of going my own way under my own power. Not having to answer to anyone was attractive. But as Bob Dylan sings, You’re gonna have to serve somebody. Well, it may be the Devil or it may be the Lord, but you’re gonna have to serve somebody. In a similar way, David opens Psalm 32 like this: How blessed is he whose transgression is ...

What Does it Profit a Man? I can see the snow gently falling outside the window by my desk. While my sons struggle with graphing inequalities and surface area, I contemplate the grey sky and why January seems so long. All around the world, Christians living under various regimes suffer for their faith. Here in the United States, we are remarkably free and prosperous. Even our poor are prosperous by worldly standards and our persecutions are relatively mild. Given recent news events, it is difficult not to wonder where our country is heading. Governor Andrew Cuomo of New York recently declared it legal in that state to murder babies in their mother’s womb up until birth. The state of New York celebrated by lighting One World Trade Center pink - they should have chosen red. Isaiah 5:20 comes to mind, Woe to those who call evil good, and good evil; who substitute darkness for light and light for darkness; who substitute bitter for sweet and sweet for bitter! What fat...

A Christmas Medley Rummaging around Lowe’s garden center for the perfect Christmas tree, it began to snow. A starry-eyed optimist might claim to hear, Chestnuts roasting on an open fire… , but I’m pretty sure it was just one of my men passing gas. Jack Frost nipping at your nose …? It was twenty degrees. Yuletide carols being sung by a choir… not my boys. And folks dressed up like Eskimos … the knuckleheads don’t like coats. We get a real tree every year. One year, my husband and offspring actually went and cut one down. It was so cold, wet, and muddy that day – they vowed never to do that again. The last few years our trees have originated from Home Depot or Menards, more recently Lowe’s. We’ve gotten a wide variety of trees – I don’t remember their names. I only know they make me sneeze. One in particular gave me a rash. One had a mouse – that made setting it up very exciting. I’m pretty sure my honey was under the tree when the mouse appeared causing ...

Fruitful I have the privilege of leading a small group for some ladies at my church. This past week one of the Scripture passages our pastor wanted us to look at was 2 Peter 1:1-9. I loved it so much I decided I had to share it! Now Peter wrote his first letter to encourage those who were suffering persecution for being believers. He wrote his second letter to equip the believers to combat false teachers. Most scholars think he wrote it in prison while awaiting his execution. The letter opens: Simon Peter, a bond-servant and apostle of Jesus Christ. Peter calls himself by his earthly name and the name Jesus gave him. This seemed beautiful to me, because it is true for all of us. We are who we are, yet at the same time, we are who He is making us to be. There’s so much hope in that – so much comfort in knowing He is not done with us. He then refers to himself as a bond-servant. I love this term – It reminds me of a passage in the Old Testament where a...