Revitalize Your Church

My journey has taught that I have choices... I can “repent” or “repeat”.  I can “soar” or be “sore”.  I can “smile and grin” or “pout again”. I can “believe and receive” or “doubt...be without.”  I can “get up and try again” or “stay there, quit there, die there”.  I do have choices. -- David Griffis

Father in heaven! You have loved us first, help us never to forget that You are love so that this sure conviction might triumph in our hearts over the seduction of the world, over the inquietude of the soul, over the anxiety for the future, over the fright of the past, over the distress of the moment. But grant also that this conviction might discipline our soul so that our heart might remain faithful and sincere in the love which we bear to all those whom You have commanded us to love as we love ourselves. You have loved us first, O God, alas! We speak of it in terms of history as if You have only loved us first but a single time, rather than that without ceasing You have loved us first many times and every day and our whole life through. When we wake up in the morning and turn our soul toward You – You are the first – You have loved us first; if I rise at dawn and at the same second turn my soul toward You in prayer, You are there ahead of me, You have loved me first. When...

Some people bring joy wherever they go. Others bring joy  when they go! I like to call the former, “old shoe friends.” When you have an old pair of shoes that are really comfortable, they just go along with you naturally. They’re not squeaky and they don’t pinch your toes with every step. They’re not two sizes too small. In other words, they possess a welcoming, broadness of spirit. After all, as Benjamin  Disraeli  said, “Life is too short to be little.” Old shoe friends accept you for who you are, and believe in you. You can turn to them for advice, knowing that they have your best interest in mind, and that you are not their project for “fixing.” You don’t have to wonder where you stand with these friends. You know they love you, regardless of what happens. This is not to say that old shoe friends won’t confront you if they see you making a mistake that is hurtful to yourself or others. A true friend will tell the truth, even when it hurts. “Wounds from a fri...