weekend renewal

This week I learned the danger of inviting a friend to sit outside to chat. The hours will pass in a flash and the sun will not be forgiving to your skin. Ouch! It seems good conversation can only be improved with sunscreen. 😉

May you find sweet time this weekend to be renewed by conversations with dear friends. And if you have a few moments to read, here are a few links with meaty thoughts:

The Church’s Response to Abuse

Perhaps you are not a church leader or a person of great influence, but you too can speak out and come alongside a hurting woman or mentor a man who is disrespectful and/or abusive toward his wife.  No one heals from destructive relationship patterns through counseling alone.  People are wounded in relationships and people are healed in relationships.  But it takes real people in real community in real relationships.  If the church does not, will not, or cannot provide this for broken people, then where will they go?

When People You Love Make Choices You Hate

There’s a reason God commands us to love and forgive; if it were optional, I’m convinced we wouldn’t.

How Not to Get Ready for Church on Sunday

I was already worshipping, but it was the wrong god.

That morning, I worshipped the gods of convenience and ease, the gods of efficiency and order and good reputation. God had given me one thing (my children) and I wanted something else (children who make no mistakes).