waiting – 300 words a day

Attitude makes all the difference

Jon, Nancy and I have a friend named Glenda. She is amazing. I won’t go into details about everything she has faced and conquered, but a huge trait that has made a difference in her life and in the lives of those who she has inspired is her positive conquering attitude. Rather than focusing on […]

by Jon Swanson

Waiting is (still) hard

We all have stories about God not answering our prayer. We asked for help on the test. We failed. We asked for healing for the child. She died. We asked “why?” We didn’t hear anything. Given our experience, many of us read these words that Jesus said and we cringe: “Ask and it will be […]

by Paul Merrill

Can’t hear that voice because I’m going too fast

Jon was talking with another Paul in a recent post: “You think we could come up with some applications? Some simple take-aways?” That really resonated with me. I thought about how I often I write First Friday posts with the idea of giving you and me some things to do so that we can become […]

by Jon Swanson

What I mean when I say pray.

(first published September 12, 2007) I have had some people ask me to pray for them recently. I’ve told some other people that I am praying for them. I realized that I probably better tell you what I am doing when I agree or offer to pray. After all, it could be dangerous. ————– Picture a […]

by Jon Swanson

Advent 9: Expectation

Our dog, Shiloh, loved treats. He needed them, so he thought, before eating his regular food. He whined. He danced around. He nudged us. And he watched. When we told him to sit and wait, he sat and waited. But his eyes never left our hands. He watched. When we walked into the laundry room […]