Lord of Life, you are turning the ground green around me. The warming sun and the nourishing rain are renewing the life of the soil. The birds of the warm months are all returning -- the alien starlings in their noisy multitudes, the fierce-eyed, raucous grackles, too. Even the nighthawks, the dark-sky hunters are in … Continue reading Prayer Note #51 — A Prayer of Longing for a Spiritual Springtime
Tag: Religion and Spirituality
Prayer Note #50 — Wandering
O my Lord and Father, I long for you. Year after year I have wandered after other food for my soul. But it was no food. It was poison. I could see that very clearly. I could see how it always diminished me. I withered. Yet, I persisted. But so did you. You persisted with … Continue reading Prayer Note #50 — Wandering
Pastor Note #53 — Jesus at the Door
“Sometimes the only way the good Lord can get into some hearts is to break them.” - Bishop Fulton Sheen It is far better to keep the door to your heart unbolted and open. Otherwise, God will do one of two things. He may choose to kick it in, and that can really hurt. … Continue reading Pastor Note #53 — Jesus at the Door
Pastor Note #51 — Here’s How I Do It: The Devotional Life of One Christian
Every so often people ask me about my devotional practices. I don’t think I’ve ever written about that before, but it strikes me a something that some folks might find helpful. I don’t share what follows as if to say that everyone should pattern their devotions after me. In fact, my own pattern of devotional … Continue reading Pastor Note #51 — Here’s How I Do It: The Devotional Life of One Christian
Prayer Note #45 — The Arithmetic of God
Where do I find hope, except in you, Good Father? Yet, I continue to look in other places. I continue to behave as if I expect to find something better, more pleasing than you. Of course, I never find anything remotely approaching you. Everything I find is cotton candy, sugar water, candy corn. You … Continue reading Prayer Note #45 — The Arithmetic of God
Prayer Note #43 — Fleeing My Pursuing God in the Dark Before Dawn
Lord Jesus, I'm scared. I'm far from you in my heart, and I persist in the things that will keep me far away from you. And yet, I feel you pursuing me. Your pursuit both comforts me and scares me. I know that because you still pursue me, you have not given up on me. … Continue reading Prayer Note #43 — Fleeing My Pursuing God in the Dark Before Dawn
Prayer Note #40 — On Dangerous, Desperate Prayers — Nehemiah 1:1-2:9
On Dangerous, Desperate Prayers Nehemiah 1:1-2:9 Nehemiah presents us with a picture of a practical, detail-oriented, can-do sort of man who is also a man of deep, dangerous, desperate prayer. For some reason, we can sometimes think that the practical and the prayerful can't function in the same heart. Nehemiah demonstrates that that kind of … Continue reading Prayer Note #40 — On Dangerous, Desperate Prayers — Nehemiah 1:1-2:9
Pastor Note #44 — Coffee Mugs and Robust Coffee, Churches and the Powerful Presence of Jesus
There are several steady coffee mugs in my life. In our kitchen cabinets at home, we have quite a stable of coffee mugs. Coffee mugs seem to just accumulate over time. Recently, we cleared some of them out because we were running out of room on the shelves. I’m willing to drink coffee out of … Continue reading Pastor Note #44 — Coffee Mugs and Robust Coffee, Churches and the Powerful Presence of Jesus
Pastor Note #43 — Blood on the Pew (A day in March 2000)
It was Tuesday noontime. I had gone into the big, dark Romanesque sanctuary of my church in downtown Columbus, Ohio for a weekly prayer meeting with a handful or so of people, mostly not members of my congregation but rather folks who worked downtown and constituted part of my weekday ancillary congregation. As I sat … Continue reading Pastor Note #43 — Blood on the Pew (A day in March 2000)
Prayer Note #34 — Refreshment from the Suffocation of Sin
Though I am mired in sin, yet still have mercy on me, O Father and Lord of my life. Capture my every thought and all the impulses of my being. Make me yours in every facet of my life, so that I might have peace and full redemption in every branch and twig and leaf … Continue reading Prayer Note #34 — Refreshment from the Suffocation of Sin
Gary Chorpenning's Notebooks 