by jot and tittle

Community.  Dictionary.com defines community as; a   social   group   of   any   size   whose   members   reside   in   a   specific   locality,  share   government,   and   often   have   a   common   cultural   and   historical  heritage. It's people who live in the same area, with a common government and share a common culture or history. But at it's core community means  people.  It's people   living together in the midst of the mess and chaos and beautiful of our days. Human beings are interesting creatures. We come in all shapes and sizes with varying quirks, gifts, and flaws. We don't all struggle with the same thing but we do all struggle. We aren't all good at the same thing but we are all good at something.  Specifically, I am very blessed to live in church community. More than anything else, church community i...

It is 9:49 P.M. I.am.tired. This week has been pretty intense, what with a strange kind of eye infection for the almost-three-year-old, school ending for my emotional-miss-my-teacher-already-and-I-saw-her-thirty-minutes-ago nine and seven year-olds, and to put a cherry on top of this week of crazy; the four-year-old has a black eye. A.black.eye. And it's only Thursday. With tomorrow being our first official day of summer holidays who knows what will happen? I am tired. My body is tired from getting up early. My brain is tired from listening to small children say the same thing over and over and over again (and when I hide in the bathroom they find me and say the same things over and over and over again only this time it's through the door). And my heart is tired from caring about four little souls who need Jesus and my friend who just found out she has cancer and what about that friend stuck in a bad relationship? And you know what? I tell God I'm tired. And t...

It was a wonderful Sunday. Today I was gifted with private worship, two church services, and lunch with several members of my immediate church family. Today is also Mother's Day and while my church doesn't pay much attention to holidays on Sunday (Sunday being the Lord's Day) my social media feed blew up with posts to and about and for mothers. Which is just fine. I am very thankful for mothers and my mother in particular has had a great influence on my life. I believe motherhood is one of the single hardest occupations. To godly mothers everywhere,  thank you .  Next weekend my pastor is speaking at a youth retreat. A few different people asked if I was going to the youth conference and when I replied "no" I was kindly reminded that youth conferences are great places to meet men. Youth conferences are great. I have been to loads and loads of youth conferences back when I had less responsibilities and I was generally encouraged in my faith. I also sincerely ...

"So I exhort the elders among you,   as a fellow elder and   a witness of the sufferings of Christ, as well as a partaker in the glory that is going to be revealed:     shepherd the flock of God that is among you , exercising oversight,   not under compulsion, but willingly, as God would have you;   not for shameful gain, but eagerly;     not   domineering over those in your charge, but   being examples to the flock.     And when   the chief Shepherd appears, you will receive the   unfading   crown of glory." 1 Peter 5:1-4 ESV For those of you who don't know, I do not live very close to my family and I only make it home about once every four weeks. Naturally, this means I am friends with people who are not acquainted with my family and vise versa. Recently it was brought to my attention that perhaps I was not being wise in one of my relationships and I didn't know what to do. My father and mother have not obse...

"The weather today will be..." states a baritone voice, but that's as far as he gets because I've already switched the alarm clock off. Not snooze. Off. Rolling over, I mutter   "please Lord, help me love mornings like You love mornings"   then I sit up in the dark, rub my eyes, and stumble to the kitchen to turn on the kettle for a cup of tea.  It's 6:00 A.M. And it's the same every weekday morning. Mornings are becoming one of my favorite parts of the day...but I'm not going to lie, from 6:00-6:10 I wonder repeatedly why I bothered to get up at all because the bed was so warm and I don't have to leave for work for another two hours.  But then I sit on the couch with my Bible and prayer journal and I spend time with God. And all of a sudden the darkness outside and the chill inside pale in comparison to being with my Redeemer and King. No, it is not always fun (in fact it rarely is) but there is an incredible blessing besto...

There are Christian disciplines that we probably do out of a mix of routine, love for God, and because they are frequently mentioned in sermons; prayer, Bible reading, cooperate worship, participating in the sacraments, and fellowship. But there's one, at least in my life, that was seldom talked about and I only saw it modeled only once; fasting . Recently my pastor mentioned fasting in a sermon which started me thinking. If Jesus expected His followers to fast (Matthew 6:16) and Paul expected married couples to fast (1 Corinthians 7:5KJV) then shouldn't Christians do it? And since I'm a follower of Jesus, shouldn't I? I didn't have a clue how to go about it...so I did some research. People typically fast in order to confess sin (either for themselves, the church, or the nation), because they are in mourning, or to give God undivided devotion/attention while they seek His will on a certain issue. Basically, the concept of fasting is to deprive yourself of food f...

The wisdom is so small the need so very great A heart full of pain and sorrow and much to contemplate A mind swirling with questions but no answers are in sight "What I am to do, oh God?" but all is dark this night Elijah heard a whisper To Abram God did speak Nathan came to David Here all is quiet though I seek Sin's victories ring loud and long and clear Bragging of their triumphs At my soul they sneer To see another now in sin Glad to be stuck in it's bog Makes me heart mourn And keep asking "why God?" "Why have You not touched them And given them Your grace? Why do you seem so far away? Why don't they seek Your face?" But heaven is quiet my face bowed to the ground I'm waiting for the answer All is still above and around God's timing is not my timing, He is love, wisdom, and truth In patience He deemed to condescend An answer to this youth "The secret things are mine, dear child, let the...