Darkness and Light
One of the things that I’ve been watching on Youtube is the old Bob Ross shows called The Joy of Painting. It always amazes me how he takes a blank…
Category: Encouragment
Real Fruit: Joy
If you’re a gardener you know joy. There’s just something special, something extra tasty, in the crops harvested from your own plot of dirt. It’s not just freshness. I can…
Turn Aside for a Moment
Have you ever pulled off the highway to visit a roadside attraction? Perhaps your destination was the Rockies, or the Grand Canyon, or the Ocean, or just to visit some…
Real Fruit: Peace
What would a moment of peace look like for you? Mine involves a cool starlit evening, some dark woods, and a glowing campfire. But maybe yours is completely different, like…
A Two-Sided Coin
Some truths are so simple that we miss how profound they really are. One plus one is two. A simple truth that is foundational to all mathematics. The sun rises…
Real Fruit – Paitence
It’s been my experience that folks, including me, struggle to grow the fruit of patience. We are impatient to become patient, desiring God to instantly plop it into our hearts.…
Wanted: Dead and Alive!
One of the staples of western lore is the wanted poster. It’s not just the stuff of movies. Wanted posters were often produced by the banks and railroads that outlaws…
Real Fruit: Kindness
Just east of our home there is a short stretch of gravel road. The grandkids call it the bumpy road. They know they’re close to grandma and grandpa’s house when…
Who You Gonna Call?
A family of beavers has decided to make their home in our creek. It’s not that I have anything personal against beavers, they aren’t ugly like possums or messy like…
Real Fruit: Goodness
We all have a built-in ability to determine good from bad. Every day we make all kinds of choices based on what we think would be good. No one intentionally…
The Grace of Failure
Every year I’m struck by something new in the story of Jesus’ passion. One year it was how Barabbas is symbolic of all of us, even down to the meaning…
Real Fruit: Faithfulness
What picture would you use to describe faithfulness? I came up with so many that I couldn’t choose just one to kick off this article on the fruit of faithfulness.…