Weekly Lent Devotional
The season of Lent, the Church’s observance of the 40-day Lenten season leading up to Easter is just around the corner! This year Lent begins on Wednesday, February 14. So for the next 40 days (starting February 14th) I will be posting a weekly blog post centering around the season of Lent. Throughout the Scriptures ...
Lessons From the Gym #1
After a four-year semi-hiatus from the gym in order to pursue my doctoral degree, along with four gazillion other people in January, I returned to the gym. I knew going back would be difficult. It was worse had than I had imagined. I was out of breath, sweating, my were muscles shaking…and that was only ...
Living Freely and Lightly
Today I spoke on simplicity at our MOPS (Mothers of Preschoolers) group. Living freely and lightly is not as easy as it sounds. Here are the highlights: There is a story about a spiritual seeker who wanted to spend a few days in a monastery. ‘I hope your stay is a blessed one,’ said the monk ...
Christmas Changes Everything
The story of our lives has more to do with what God is doing than our ability to manage it. Gail Johnsen This is my all-time favorite quote about Christmas: “God has interrupted our ordinary expectations, as cherished as they were, to conceive something. We cannot manage it. We can’t even understand it. All we ...
A Wonderful Instruction for Life
We are awaiting the soon-arrival of our seventh grandchild…a boy named Clive. Our son…pastor…reader of books…. is a huge C.S. Lewis fan. In case you do not know what C.S. stands for…it’s Clive Stapelton….who penned these remarkable words: “Let us go on and take adventure that shall fall to us.” A wonderful instruction for life. ...
Finding Grace in Unexpected Ways
A few months ago my husband and I celebrated 37 years of marriage. Quite a feat considering where I came from: broken home and a long lineage of divorce. I am sure our marriage set some kind of Fleig family record. Yet the most incredible, miraculous thing in all this is not our longevity; it’s ...
A Force to be Reckoned With
For years I’ve been at odds the with Proverbs 31 woman. To be honest, the way she has been preached as the over-achiever and refined role model for all women, simply drives me crazy. What if I do not get up before dawn, or make a profit to buy an investment, or make my own ...
I’ve Never Been This Way Before
Like you I am a bit giddy at the prospect of beginning again. I look forward to the freshness and possibilities that the New Year offers. There is something about being given a clean slate…a do-over or "reboot" in our lives. Unlike many of you I’ve not yet set any goals. Much of what is ...
A Surprising Wholeness
“If the Lord had not been for us”…Psalm 124 Yesterday, as I pondered by these words, my mind retraced the many times God has literally saved my life. A home break-in. A mountain climbing slip. Running blind in the dark. A high-speed car accident. If the Lord had not been for me…wow. I thought of ...
Coming to Grips With Perfectionism
“I’m not perfect, you know.” She squinted her eyes a bit with exasperation in your voice. As if I thought she should be. Often such a statement has to do with the mistaken belief that the spiritual life is a static state of moral and virtuous personal achievement. Claiming we are not perfect is a ...
Gail Johnsen 