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THE WEARY KIND

There is a new song out called The Weary Kind. It is the theme tune from Crazy Heart, the movie with Jeff Bridges that won him best actor this year. I really like this song, The Weary Kind. It hits home in this sin-filled world. Life is full of weary souls. And some of these worn out people are Christians. The Christ-filled life shouldn’t be this way.Why is there so much weariness both in and outside of the church?I believe the answer is sin, but if you are the weary kind of Christian, before you take this to heart, let […]

By Paula May 13, 2010

A MOTHER’S SOUP

A few days ago, I stepped out the back door to find John, our seven-year-old, and Joey, five-years-old, working away at my flower pots. These pots are old wine barrels cut in half. We have two right outside the kitchen door. The dogs have taken over the barrels, sleeping there, so I no longer bother to keep flowers in them.“What are you boys up to?” I asked red-haired John, and blond, curly-haired Joey, watching them take dirt from one pot to add to the other pot.“We’re making you soup,” the boys said in union, grins on their dirty, little faces.“Soup, […]

By Paula May 7, 2010

PRAYERS FOR PROTECTION

Two days ago my teenage daughter and I went to the mall. We settled in a parking lot where a group of young men lurked near the store entrance. They appeared to be gang members, but I paid little attention to them. My daughter Cami and I were in a hurry, having only twenty minutes to grab a birthday present for a friend before heading to my other daughter’s soccer game. Our SUV was perfectly fine when we walked into the mall. When we came out twenty minutes later, our tire was flat to the rim. This was a good […]

By Paula April 23, 2010

IMPATIENCE

“Impatience is stealing the joy from my life,” I told Scott as we sat in gridlock traffic in Santa Cruz a few weeks ago. It was an impossibly beautiful day. Rain had just washed the world clean and now the sun sparkled all over the place. Everything was in bloom as we headed into the mountains where redwoods rose higher than any other tree on earth. Problem was, we were moving at about five miles an hour. I had all the time in the world to admire the beauty beside the highway, but I was feeling agitated and annoyed.“Everywhere I […]

By Paula April 10, 2010

Stradivari and Guarneri del Gesu

A few days ago in one of my devotions, I read that Stradivari of Cremona marked every one of his now priceless violins with the name of Jesus. This really moved me and I wanted to blog about it. In researching the story, to my deep disappointment, I found it was not Stradivari who marked his violins with the name of Jesus, but Giuseppe Guarneri, a violin maker fifty years younger than Stradivari who crafted stringed instruments at the same time in the northern Italian city of Cremona. Stradivari and Guarneri are known as the greatest luthiers (violin makers) of […]

By Paula March 12, 2010