Sounds of Hope

Today you will find me as the blogger on Kingdom Bloggers . Our theme this week on KB is doubt. It has sort of amused me that this would be the theme since I just wrote Confessions of a Former Optimist. On KB I wrote about Thomas and his doubts. I wrote about the disciples hiding behind locked doors because of fear. You really should check it out - you can do so here: I'M FROM MISSOURI - SHOW ME Sometimes you just need to be shown. Sometimes you just want to know what is real and what isn't? I ran out of steam or space, not sure which, before I finished my thoughts on doubt. I wanted to talk about the opposite of doubt. Many would say it is faith. I have a hard time with the concept of faith. I just don't really understand it. At times my view of faith has been distorted through the lens of my own works. If I confess it enough, I'll have it. Now, I think there is something about being careful what you say - I also think you can go way overboard with that c...

Like Dorothy I want to go home. I want to go home where I have friends, love and support. Instead God has put me in the wilderness of South Dakota. It has felt a bit like being in OZ. I am trying to follow the road to get home. No, not necessarily home to Tennessee, Connecticut or even Brooklyn. But home with Jesus - and not necessarily heaven either... Just a sense of settled-ness and home. Knowing I am doing what God would have me do. I preached a sermon one time, There Are No Straight Lines in God’s Kingdom .   As with many of my sermons, it starts with an ordinary event or conversation.   My husband and I were driving in South Dakota and saw some trees. Now in other parts of the country seeing trees is not a big deal. It is however in South Dakota.   There are so few trees that you tend to get excited when you see them. These particular trees were planted in a straight line. I assume they were planted to break the wind that shrieks over the prairie. My husband r...