The Journey

"Anyone can be angry--that is easy, but to be angry with the right person at the right time, and for the right purpose and in the right way--that is not within everyone's power and that is not easy." -Aristotle When I think of a flared temper or anger, I always envision a volcano. In doing research for my daughter's science project last year, I read several articles about them and learned a thing or two. So much like human nature, volcanoes are reactive under pressure. They can literally blow their top!  Now, there are two main types of eruption. The type most people are familiar with is the very visual, most dramatic, fire-breathing, explosive eruption. There is also the more subtle, oozing eruption that seeps hot lava into the ocean and surrounding vegetation burning up everything in its path. Both forms of eruption are volatile and destructive much like human ire. We are made in God's image. All through the Old Testament you read of God's ange...

Imagine for a moment being wrapped in total darkness. The smell of smoke  from all that has been reduced to ashes  lingers in the air.  Simultaneously, you feel the heat of your surroundings and the coldness of isolation .  Everything that once was is no longer. Imagine rummaging through the darkness trying to salvage anything of value.  Frantically searching for something to cling to, anything with an inkling of security, you lose your footing as your very foundation crumbles under your feet. Life has spontaneously combusted. Suddenly, you have lost the sense of safety because everything that was secure and steady has now gone sideways.   When complete devastation has become your reality, you s it head in hands with no audible words but crying out from the depths of your inner being. "God, help me!" How can something beautiful emerge from these gray, smoldering ashes? God often gives us answers in the natural to things that occur in us either physically,...