A devotional by Miki Clouser This year, our Pastors are doing a series on the colors of Christmas- Blue, Green, White & Red. I’ve been excited, wondering what each color will stand for, and what aspect of Christmas will be highlighted each week. This past week was “blue.” The worship service was designed to acknowledge the pain, sorrow, and longing that many of us experience during the holidays and then pointed to Jesus as the ultimate satisfaction for all of…
I have what you might call a chronic intermittent back injury. Years ago, when I was a youth pastor, I was playing flag football with the young men of our church on a crisp fall Saturday morning. The field was slippery due to heavy dew, and I forgot to bring my cleats. But I was young and invincible and played anyway in regular sneakers, even though my house was only two miles away and I could have easily gotten the…
I lift up my eyes to the hills- where does my help come from? My help comes from the LORD, the Maker of heaven and earth. Psalm 121:1-2 “Hey, do you know where the broom is?” I was on the phone with Pam, and if my terse words didn’t communicate that I was irritated, then my tone of voice certainly did. It was Saturday afternoon and Pam had been out all day at her sister’s house in Bucks County. I…
Every good and perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of the heavenly lights, who does not change like shifting shadows. James 1:17 The other week at our midweek prayer group, we were talking about the weather. It seems like we’ve been in a pattern of late afternoon thunderstorms recently and tropical storm Ophelia certainly didn’t change that. But since things have been generally dry, we all agreed that the rain was a good thing, even if…
A devotion by Miki Clouser Recently someone asked me what I do when I am depleted… It didn’t take much thought to answer. Every place I’ve ever lived, I’ve found a quiet alone place in nature, because alone with God is where I recharge and find sanity. If I can find a remote enough trail, I’ll just walk along talking to God like He’s next to me, because He is. Anyone who’d happen to round a corner and find me…
Recently, God dropped a theological bombshell on me, and my personal life is still reverberating from the aftershocks. I know that sounds dramatic. You’ll probably read this blog and say, “Eh, nothing new here.” And it’s not new, but for me, it’s fresh and transformative. So, I want to share it. Two weeks ago, at Wednesday night prayer group, one of our elders, Cliff did a devotional reading from Acts 9, the conversion of the Apostle Paul. It’s a familiar…
Last week, our Toyota RAV 4 broke down on a country road in southern Virginia, 300 miles from home. It was Sunday in the late afternoon and Pam, my sister, Leah, Amanda, and her fiancée Patrick were returning to Richmond after an afternoon of wedding planning at the Waverly Estates wedding venue in Lunenburg, 75 miles southwest of the city. They were in the middle of nowhere, in an area of the deep south that makes East Earl look like…
“What do you do the other days?”, my neighbor Ben asked me out of the blue this week. Ben’s an elderly gentleman in our neighborhood who just acquired an electric wheelchair. His mobility has been severely limited, so it’s been fun to see him zipping up and down the sidewalks recently. “You mean, other than Sundays?” I replied. “Right.” He said. I hear that a lot from people who may not be familiar with church or pastoral work, and I…
Yesterday morning, I was running late. Tuesday’s always a busy day at the church, but this week the to-do list was especially full with several appointments, our weekly staff meeting and a special luncheon. I needed to get a jump on the day. As I rushed from the bedroom into the hallway, I stopped dead in my tracks, horrified. There, right at the top of the steps, was a large, vile, sin-black, disgusting stain. I’ll spare you the details, but…
Every morning for the last several weeks, I‘ve had the weirdest sensation on my way to the church. Let me tell you about it! Back in January, the road leading to our church, Rt. 625 was under construction for several months. The township ripped up the road and installed new sewer lines right down the center of the northbound lane. The road was closed, except for local traffic, and that traffic was redirected to drive up the left-hand side of…