The End of Your Rope, and other things

My verse for the day comes from Rex's Sunday School class yesterday (boy am I going to miss that class when it concludes in a few weeks!): "You're blessed when you're at the end of your rope" (Matt. 5:3a, The Message). Can anybody else out there get on board with that?


My dad received a "Colorado" basket of Christmas goodies at work, and it included these Javabites Espresso Cookies, in the vanilla latte flavor. They are FANTASTIC!


One of our ministry friends in Nazareth sent us an article that he had published in CT Online: "Is Life Worth Living Before Death." An interesting pullout:

Starting around November and lasting through Easter and Holy Week in the spring, Christian pilgrims by the multitudes are escorted through the top sites from the life of Christ and the early church.

These pilgrims have nary a personal encounter with the contemporary church of living stones — everyday saints who maintain the Christian witness in Nazareth, Jerusalem, Bethlehem, and other communities. This further feeds the perception, rightly or wrongly, among the Mideast's Christians (especially Christian youth) that Christianity is mostly about the past and has little to do with their hopes, dreams, and aspirations for bettering their lives.

I think that's about all ... I'll close with some more lyrics from Sandra McCracken, this time from her song "Shelter."

In the arms of a good Father / You can go to the deep water / Where the questions, we have left unspoken / Come out in the open / We will find shelter here // So I lay down, what I cannot hold in my hands / Every sorrow and hope spinning out of control / And here I find sweet resolution comes in letting go / And we will find shelter here.