I just posted a long reflection over at Floydville if anyone is interested.

Over the last couple years, my struggles with the failing kidney gradually drained my capacity to dream. I learned to find joy in the midst of my struggles and trust God’s goodness, and yet I had difficulty looking forward to the future with any expectation.

In the midst of this, I sensed God continuing to challenge me in Scripture to trust Him not just for today but for tomorrow as well. Abraham became a picture for me of someone who was moving toward a vision of tomorrow and yet still lived in the present reality of today’s problems. In him, I saw God’s grace at work and the essay below is a way of processing this. While others may not have kidney problems, I realize everyone struggles in different ways, and sometimes the weight of today can cause us to lose hope in tomorrow. This is my poor attempt to reflect on that struggle. Link

I’ve been reading and thinking about how our prayer and worship is embodied in our actions. For someone who spends a great deal of time in the virtual world of the web, I am conscious of how important the physical, earthy material world is. Just as face-to-face personal encounters are fundamental in relationships, our spiritual life is not a mere abstraction in search of a feeling. Rather we embody our faith in our lives by the way we act and live. Our prayers may take place in private and public places of worship, but they should be embodied in our action. If I pray the needy, my prayer should be embodied through helpful action toward the needy. Frank Laubach taught me that when I am in public around people, every encounter can be a prayer and a blessing. Would that our world thought in terms of blessing instead of cursing and killing.

Anyway, I ran across an interesting series related to this that some might enjoy.

Transforming Sermons pointed me to a blogs series by John Frye about Jesus in the Margins. Take a pause from the barrage web news and find yourself inspired.