chasing grace

A friend of mine recently took up embroidery. Her first piece was large and detailed. It included a dozen or so different colored threads and several different stitch designs. I was very impressed with her skill. A few days after completing her intricate piece she posted this picture. She was beginning her 2nd pattern, and although it's just a single stitch, something about this image struck me and stuck with me. I couldn't seem to get it out of my mind. What was she making? What would this single stitch become? There was just something so beautifully simple about the image and the great potential that it represented. With her hands she could fashion this stitch into anything she imagined.  As I stared at the stitch I wondered what drew me to it. Perhaps we had something in common. Perhaps the simplicity and potential hidden in this single thread is something that I crave deeply. Perhaps I long to be the artist--to have control over where the needle moves next. Perhaps this sin...

"So he got into the boat." Jesus was familiar with fishing boats. He often used them as a means to get away from the constant hustle of the incessant crowds. Sometimes when the crowds were so large, he would even teach from a boat giving more people the opportunity to see him and hear what he was teaching. In Matthew 8 beginning with verse 23 (printed below) Jesus had just completed a healing spree--a man with leprosy, the centurion's servant, Peter's mother-in-law, and a multitude of both demon-possessed and sick individuals found healing and new life in Jesus. Now, Jesus needs a break. "So he got into the boat."  Jesus' disciples were not strangers to being on the water either. Several of these men were fishermen spending most days, prior to Jesus' calling, in a boat. And after seeing all that Jesus had done, they didn't hesitate to follow Jesus out into the deep sea.  But this was not going to be the restful sabbath that they had in mind. Alr...