markmanry

[bl]I[/bl]t’s that time of year. We’re anticipating the coming Autumn. The heat has subsided a bit and the dark settles in sooner. Calendars are beginning to govern again, sleep schedules are shifting, and number two pencils are fully stocked at every Target and Wal-Mart. I’ve been purchasing books for discovering the Middle Ages. We have a year of art, castles, European and church history, Medieval times and Renaissance culture to look forward to. It’s also the time stores start tempting us with good sales because they know we’ll take the bait as we prepare for cooler weather. Old Navy had […]

It’s not just for your friends. It’s easy to open your door for the people you’re crazy about. The people who are like you. The people who will return the favor. The people who are fun to be with. But what about everyone else? What about the family who won’t have you over because they’re embarrassed about their home…or maybe they don’t even have one. What about the couple who is hard to connect with because the husband won’t engage in conversation? What about those who seem ungrateful for the sacrifice? Or the children who don’t stop to appreciate? Favoritism […]

[bl]I[/bl] have a new friend on Facebook. We’ve never met, but we understand a piece of one another’s heart because our feet have both walked the orange roads of Uganda. Our eyes have seen the same poverty, our arms have held orphans, and our hearts have felt the longing to fulfill the desperate needs of a culture looking for healing and development. My new friend was expressing her deep sadness in anticipating her departure from Uganda after a few months of serving and loving among those beloved people. My heart felt a sharp pain as I read her words and recalled […]

[bl]W[/bl]hen we bear fruit, the ways we can bless, the things we can make from it are countless. When God’s Spirit roots in us, dwells in us, and bears life in our heart and home, it carves out environments that are pleasing to others. Delightful to enter. Delicious to take part of. Be creative with the fruit you bear. Make good things of it. Strawberry Shortcake 1 qt. strawberries, chopped small ¼ c sugar In a bowl stir together chopped strawberries and sugar.  It will make it’s own sauce within an hour of sitting at room temperature. Biscuits 2 c […]

[bl]I[/bl]f we’re going to the people and places Jesus went, then we will find ourselves face to face with what seems like hopeless situations.  An impoverish continent of drought and famine, malnourished children, and dying parents who leave behind orphans with a grim future. An entire people group drowning in consumerism, suffering from a deep disconnection from the land, and placing false hope in treasures of the earth.  Countless individuals self destructing with drugs to numb pain and escape reality. A generation of children raised in a virtual world, held captive by screens. How do you begin to help any […]

[bl]F[/bl]or there’s a learning in how to approach the Almighty God. You might think it comes natural to the souls he created. Like the instinct to breath or suckle at birth. Or you might wonder why it’s not the first language we learn. A heart language to communicate with the one that knit us together, knows us best, loves us deep. Why is it we struggle for the words? For time? For alertness or clarity, quietness or availability? This is the relationship meant to sustain us all our days on earth. So why don’t we make the time for it? […]

[bl]I[/bl] want to build a house. Not for me, not for my family. For you. For the college student that can’t afford to stay on campus. For the single mother who just had a baby. For the dear friend who needs a place that will keep her. For the stranger who needs a bed. For the friend of a friend who is in town. For the one with child who has no where to go. For the family struggling to pay bills. For the young parents who need to escape for the weekend. And I want this house to be near […]

[bl]T[/bl]he stories God writes are better than the ones we choose or act or pen.  Breathing and speaking creation into existence. Who else could think of that? A huge ark to save an intentional part of creation while he wiped the earth clean from sin and godlessness. Only the one who created it all could have done such a thing. An elderly couple giving birth to a child. Plagues that show an earthly ruler who is most powerful and just. Wandering a people through a desert to shape their faith and prepare the world for its redemptive future. Asking a […]

[bl]W[/bl]e’ve heard the saying the grass is always greener on the other side.  From where we stand, we can see the brown dry grass at our feet. The weeds in between the green. The uneven patches. And from where we stand, the yard next door or the missionary’s compound in her pictures or the hills of Tennessee — they look greener. Better. A place we wish we could be. Instead of here. The realities of others are often more desirable than our own. Because in our own reality the normal seems mundane, the hardships too hard, the brokenness unredeemable. It’s […]

[bl]R[/bl]edeeming the land. That’s what we’re doing. For all of God’s creation needs redeeming. Not just us. We purchased ten and a half acres that haven’t been cared for in a long time. It was once loved and tended to. But those loving hands grew old. Where corn used to grow tall in the fields, there is now woods. Woods that have grown up over decades. From a distance, it appears as woods that have always been there. But when you get closer, when you step into the covering, you see the wooded environment for what it really is. A […]