Sons of the Shepherd

The Weight I Can't Carry Cast your burden on the Lord, and He will sustain you; He will never permit the righteous to be moved.”   Psalm 55:22        A few years ago Tif and I belonged to Planet Fitness.  We would walk on the tread mill for a few miles but one day she talked me into trying weight lifting.  Needless to say I'm not built like a weight lifter.  I'm slightly chunky and no one is going to confuse me for Mr. Universe.  I have embraced the dad bod.  But as I lifted a few smaller weights a guy who was obviously stacked started to lift weights.  He was lifting weights with one hand that I was lifting with both.  I was totally unable to lift that kind of weight.  That day I also retired from professional weight lifting.      That reminds me a lot of grief.  There are days when grief feels heavier than ever.  Some days it's lighter and more bearable but other days it feels like the weigh...

  The Root That Remains  “But I am like an olive tree flourishing  in the house of God;  I trust in God’s unfailing love for ever and ever.” — Psalm 52:8       A few days ago I was leaving a voice message to Leslie about Psalm 52.  I started a tradition of reading a Psalm to her and leaving a few thoughts.  Some Psalms strike a cord, other ones feel flat.  Psalm 52 orginally felt like it was going to be a flatter devotional.  I struggled to find an application.  But the Holy Spirit grabbed ahold of me and showed some beautiful truths that I hadn't seen with any previous reading.  You need to know that I read through the Psalms twice a year.  I've done this for probably ten plus years.  That means I've read this Psalm over twenty time and I had zero notes on it.  I had never studied the passage let alone preached or taught on it.  But this Psalm drew me in.       Context is king and the co...

  The God Who Weeps With Us “Jesus wept.” — John 11:35       Sometimes some of the most powerful words in the world come in small packages.  I remember the first time that I told Tiffanie that I loved her.  Those three simple words "I love you" were so powerful, healing, and would describe our marriage for fourteen years.  I also remember the powerful words "I do" when I asked her to marry me.  Our engagement was far from what I planned.  It happened in our sweatpants, in a blizzard, in her parents backyard (doesn't scream romance does it).  Other powerful words come in the form of "I'm ready" or "it's a boy."  Yes, powerful words don't have to be long speeches or well orated poems.  Scripture contains two powerful words, Jesus wept.  When I first read those two words after my wife passed, I saw them differently than ever before. I’d heard them as a child, memorized them because they were the shortest verse in the Bible — ...

  When Joy Sprouts Again "Weeping may endure for a night, but joy comes in the morning." ~ Psalm 30:5       One of my favorite pastimes is gardening.  Tif and I used to garden all the time.  We would grow tomatoes, onion, squash, okra, all kinds of peppers (loved growing habaneros), green beans, lettuce, spinach, and the list could go on and on.  One particular plant that we could never seem to get rid of was cherry tomatoes.  Once a plant went to seed it seemed like each year multiple volunteer plants would break through the soil, even if I didn't want them to come back.  I didn't have to intentionally plant cherry tomatoes for three years, they just kept coming back.  This reminds me a lot of my intial steps with grief.  Prior to losing Tiffanie I was a pretty happy go lucky guy.  I was always trying to find the bright side, despite being a natural born worrier.  But Tif's cancer journey and death shifted something in me...